BENGALURU: On Friday, an unexpected fire broke out inside the BBMP LAB in the BBMP headquarters, injuring nine people, including five BBMP engineers. The injured are being treated at Victoria Hospital, Bangalore.
The fire harmed all nine people who were in the building at the time of the catastrophe. According to officials from various agencies, including the BBMP and police, the incident occurred while the lab’s personnel conducted a bitumen extraction test to assess the quantity of bitumen used in a bituminous concrete sample.
According to sources, benzene was used in the test, and the concrete sample was kept in the testing machine’s oven. The oven, along with the sample, burst due to overheating, and the benzene housed in the lab caught fire when exposed to heat. The fire only destroyed the entryway of the laboratory, where the explosion happened.
According to fire and rescue services, they received information about the fire at 4.52pm and dispatched two fire tenders to the scene. However, the fire was extinguished by BBMP staff and members of the public using sand and water.
The injured have been identified as Shiva Kumar, chief engineer; Kiran, Santosh Kumar, and Vijaya Mala, all executive engineers; Sridhar, assistant executive engineer; Siraj, a first division assistant; Jyoti, an operator; Srinivas, a project management consultant; and Manoj, a computer manager, according to BBMP officials.
“First, we stabilised the patients by giving them pain relievers.” They were subsequently referred to the specialty burns unit at Victoria Hospital in accordance with the [treatment] procedure,” said Dr Nitya, the medical officer at St Martha’s Hospital’s emergency department.
According to Dr. Ramesh Krishna K, director and dean of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, which oversees Victoria Hospital, all nine people have 35% to 40% burns. “Some of them received inhalation burns from inhaling the smoke, while others received deep burns.” We can’t judge the patient’s condition or severity solely on their skin burns. “They’re all being watched.”