11 dead, 4 injured in fire at scrap warehouse in India

HYDERABAD, INDIA: MARCH 24 – A major fire in a scrap warehouse killed at least 11 people and injured four others Wednesday in India’s southern Hyderabad city, police and officials said.

Police said 15 labourers were sleeping in the shop when a fire caused by a short-circuit broke out, trapping the people inside. The labourers were from the eastern state of Bihar – about 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) away – and had come to Hyderabad for employment.

Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, the chief minister of Telangana state, of which Hyderabad is the capital, expressed his condolences and ordered monetary compensation for the deceased.

Fires are common in India, where building laws and safety norms are often flouted by builders and residents.

-AP