9 dead & more than 60 injured in major fire at Bangalore Carlton Towers: Updated

 Hospital sources said nine people have died in a major fire that broke out on the seventh floor of Carlton Towers, a business centre housing several offices and commercial establishments.

Some casualties apparently occurred when a few people jumped out of the building in panic, eyewitnesses said.

TV visuals showed a girl clad in a blue salwar kameez landing on the roof of the portico after jumping from the sixth floor and then falling over to the ground. Her condition was not immediately known.

The multi-storey building located on the busy Old Airport Road in Domlur area was completely evacuated and the fire brought under control nearly two hours after it broke out, officials said.

Scores of persons fainted after inhaling the smoke and had to be rushed to nearby hospital for first aid, a senior fire official said.

The fire which broke out in an office on the seventh floor at 4.30 pm has been brought under control and extinguished, Chief Fire Officer N U Erappa said after the fire fighting operations.

Nearly 15 fire tenders including two rescue vehicles were pressed into service.

The blaze, suspected to have been triggered by a short circuit, created panic with several inside the building shouting for help and many others breaking the window panes.

Passersby also rushed to help those trapped. The fire that occurred at the start of the peak hour caused a huge traffic jam on a two kms stretch.

People broke open glass panes with bare hands and any other material they could lay hands on to let out the smoke. Dozens of office-goers were seen coughing as they were caught in the smoke.

Hundreds of people gathered on the busy street hindering the free movement of fire brigade vehicles and fire personnel. Police said a few people jumped out of the building and suffered minor injuries.

A large number of people were stuck in the building. A user trapped in the building tweeted (username: Kiran Jonnalagadda) about the incident:

“Carlton Towers is burning and six of us are trapped inside. The fire's above but there's smoke everywhere. Saw people jump to their death.”

“Don't call me folks, you can't help. Will keep posting.”

“Our rescue ladder. It'll only reach the fourth floor. We're on the fifth.”

“Massive crowd outside. This must have choked traffic for kilometers around.”

Many users write in about the massive crowd near the place, which is causing traffic blockage. Tweetizens are also posting latest pictures of the happenings in the building.

The Twitteratti doing their bit by telling people the actual on-goings to avoid false rumours.

People are also warning the others to not to come on that road to avoid the chaos; one user enquires, “We are 20 minutes from Carlton Towers Bangalore. Which is on fire. Hope Things are not as bad as it seems to me”