Panic gripped the staff and guests of Hotel Chancery Pavilion on Residency Road after a fire broke out at the basement of the multi-storey building on Monday.
Over 200 guests and employees of the hotel had to be evacuated from the building that also resulted in chaos on the busy Residency Road.
The building was engulfed with thick smoke and one person had to be hospitalised after he inhaled it.
He was later discharged. Seven fire tenders rushed to the spot and put out the fire after over three hours of operation.
According to the police, the fire control room officials received a call from one of the employees around 11.40 a.m. informing about the fire.
Initially two fire tenders were rushed from High Grounds fire station.
However, more fire tenders were pressed into service after assessing the magnitude of fire. Meanwhile, around 200 people who had been rescued came out of the hotel and stood on the footpath.
DGP (Fire and Emergency) M.N. Reddi, who supervised the operation, said that thick smoke made it difficult for the fire fighters to reach the basement where the fire emerged.
“The fire had started in the second basement of the building. Housekeeping materials like linen, towel caught fire and finding the source of fire through the dense smoke was difficult. Fire fighters with the help of breath mask and suction machine were able to clear the smoke and put out the fire,” he said. Though a short circuit is suspected to be the reason for the fire, a probe has been ordered to verify the exact cause.
One of the guests in the hotel, who was evacuated, said that they were heading for breakfast when an alarm was raised and all the guests were asked to rush out of the building over safety concerns.
Sandeep Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) said that there were more than 200 people since a meeting had been organised in the hotel.
