Shops and vehicles were gutted at Attibele in the fire accident
| Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain
While a team of FSL officials is trying to ascertain the cause of the fire that claimed 14 lives and resulted in injuries to several others, a 21-year-old labourer, who witnessed the horrible accident and lost 8 of his relatives, told the police that the fire was set off by a spark in a cracker box that was being taken inside the godown.
Logashwaran, a native of Ammanapatti village in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu, said that he, along with 10 of his relatives, were working as salespersons in Sri Balaji Traders, which is situated close to the Attibele border. Two days earlier, he got a call from Naveen Reddy who offered him a job that paid ₹600 per day along with food and accommodation. The group would work as cracker salespersons every year during Deepawali season. They had been joined by others in the work force, including 12 persons from Vaniyambadi and five from Kallurchi.
On October 6 around 7.30 a.m., he, along with his relatives, reported for work. They were told to unload a consignment of crackers from a truck that had arrived from Tamil Nadu. Around 1 p.m., the work force took a break for lunch. Naveen Reddy and the manager Lokesh were standing near the cash counter supervising the unloading work.
Logashwaran stepped outside the godown to pick up boxes of crackers while his relatives carried the boxes inside. A few seconds after lunch, a spark in a box containing crackers ignited the fire that soon spread across the godown. Naveen sustained burn injuries on his hands. He came running out of the godown and all the others started running helter-skelter.
The fire soon engulfed the godown. The area reverberated with the sound of crackers bursting. Soon, thick smoke engulfed the area.
“Some of relatives — Bhimrao Ramji and a few women working at the rear end of the godown — ran to safety from the back gate. Standing outside, I could hear people inside screaming for help. But, I was helpless because the fire had engulfed the entire godown,” said Logeshwaran.
A few minutes later, a fire fighting team arrived. They rescued four labourers who had been stuck inside the godown. They were taken to a hospital for treatment of burn injuries. However, others who were storing the boxes containing crackers, and packing and pasting stickers, could not come out due to haphazard dumping of boxes inside the godown.
“Eight of my relatives, who had come here to work with me, were charred beyond recognition. The other deceased are from Vaniyambadi and Kallurchi,” said Logeshwaran.
The truck that transported the crackers, and which was parked in front of the godown, was gutted in the fire along with two other goods vehicles and five bikes.
“Despite the hazardous nature of the work, the godown owner, Ramaswamy Reddy, and his son Naveen did not brief us about safety measures. The godown does not have a fire extinguisher or any safety gadget,” alleged Logeshwaran. “The structure was badly designed. There was no space for proper ventilation. or entry and exit doors,” he added.
Based on his statement, police registered a case against Ramaswamy Reddy, Naveen, manager Lokesh, building owner Jayamma and Anil Reddy, charging them under the Explosive Act and also under Sections 427 ( mischief), 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), 304 (cause the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide), and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code. Ramaswamy Reddy, Naveen and Anil Reddy have been arrested.