"Inexplicable": Bengaluru Man Recounts Ordeal After Fire Broke Out In Koramangala

A massive fire broke out in a four-storey Bengaluru building on Wednesday afternoon. Several pictures and videos of the horrifying explosion have surfaced on the internet. The fire reportedly broke out in a cafe on the top floor at noon. Several cooking gas cylinders had been kept on the top floor, and residents reported hearing a series of explosions. 

A Bengaluru man named Prabal who witnessed the horrific fire at a four-storey building in Koramangala has described the "scary" incident in a series of tweets on X. Prabal's office is located next to the building that caught fire on October 18. He shared that his office was evacuated within 15 minutes after the fire broke out. 

Visuals showed a huge explosion on the top floor of the building amid the fire, reportedly due to cooking gas cylinders going off.

Another video of a man jumping down to escape the flames also surfaced on the internet. The man is critical and undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital. 

Describing the incident, Prabal wrote, "Fire started around 11:45 and burned down most of the top floor and the floor below as well."

He shared that the fire trucks arrived 30 to 40 minutes late. "As for first responders, fire trucks came in about 30-40 mins late, till which most of the top floor was burnt and debris covered in fire were falling down like crazy. I guess Blr traffic is to be blamed, but then again, they need to take everything into account beforehand."

See the post here:

In a subsequent tweet, he wrote, "Don't know about casualties yet, but been hearing about 2-3 people being caught in the fire. Really hope that's not true. Witnessing and being in the middle of something like this inexplicable, and I hope this contributes in making building safety norms stricter in Bangalore."

The fire apparently broke out at around noon in a 'Hookah bar and cafe' located on the top floor of the four-storey building, where several LPG cylinders had been stored. People in the vicinity heard blast-like sounds.

"We had sent eight fire trucks to the spot and our senior officers are there. The fire has been extinguished. Two people have suffered major injuries," a fire department officer told PTI.

There were no customers at the cafe when the incident happened, the police said.