Pune eatery fire: Two workers killed

The three workers were rushed to a hospital where two of them were declared dead. Screengrab/Twitter

Authorities in Pune on Tuesday said that two workers died and one sustained injuries after a fire broke out in an eatery in Maharashtra's Pune city in the early hours.

The accident occurred around 1 am at hotel Revan Siddhi in the Market Yard area of the city, according to a report by the news agency PTI.

An official told the news agency that the shutter of the hotel was locked from the outside and some workers were stranded in the loft inside. He said firefighters broke open the shutter with the help of cutters and found three unconscious workers inside.

The three workers were rushed to a hospital where two of them were declared dead, he said. The fire started in the kitchen though its cause is yet to be ascertained, the official said.

The fire was brought under control in some time and four liquified petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders were removed from the eatery, he added.

Series of fire incidents and deaths in earlier cases in Pune

In February this year, a fire broke out at a vegetable market in Maharashtra's Pune city in which nearly 90 stalls were damaged and two tempos burnt, fire brigade officials had said. Nearly 90 stalls were damaged in the blaze, which also destroyed a large quantity of vegetables. Two tempos were also gutted, a fire official said.

In September 2021, one person was killed and two others were injured after a fire broke out at a small unit involved in making cake firework candles at an industrial estate in Pune district. "One person was killed in the blaze," a police official said, adding that two other persons received minor injuries while escaping from the unit. The deceased was identified as Dattanand Digambar Sonawane (40), the official said.

In June 2021, at least 18 workers, mostly women, were charred to death in a devastating fire that broke out at a chemical firm in an industrial area in Pune district, officials said. According to the officials, the fire broke out at SVS Aqua Technologies, which manufactures chlorine dioxide among other chemicals and is located in the Pirangut MIDC area of Mulshi tehsil on the outskirts of Pune city.

In December 2016, six workers were suffocated to death when a fire broke out in a bakery shop whose only exit was locked from outside in Kondhwa area. The victims, all hailing from Uttar Pradesh, used to sleep on the loft inside the bakery shop, 'Bakes and Cakes', which is owned by three partners. The deceased were identified as - Ishad Ansari (26), Juned Ansari (25), Shanu Ansari (20), Zakir Ansari (24), Faeem Ansari (21) and Zishan Ansari (21). "Since the main shutter was locked from outside, all the six got trapped inside and died of suffocation," a fire official had informed.