Bangalore:
Bangalore held its breath on Monday afternoon as smoke began filling the sky near the Bangalore Club at about 1.30 pm.
A fire had begun at NYK's Pub on Residency Road in the heart of the city. The pub is located on the fourth floor of a commercial building called Gold Towers.
Within seconds, people working in offices nearby were tweeting their photos and comments. One tweeter posted, "I can hear the fire engine arriving now."
The city is still recovering from the shock of another huge fire at Carlton Towers less than a month ago in which nine people were killed. Some of them had jumped in panic from the top floors of the commercial building and did not survive the fall. (
Read: 9 dead, 59 injured in Carlton Towers blaze)
On Monday's fire at NYK's pub, there were no casualties reported. Like most other weekdays, the pub was virtually empty - if this had happened later in the evening, Bangalore would likely have witnessed another human tragedy. There are no emergency exits in the popular nightclub.
''There is definitely violation of building norms. I don't think they have been conscious or aware or careful about preventive measures. This building was not legally constructed. We do not have any file to prove whether fire inspection or fire clearance was done,'' says Jija Hari Singh, Director General, Karnataka Fire Services.
A total of 14 fire engines were used to battle the humongous flames. Firefighters confirm that the owners of the building were conducting a hawan on an open-air terrace. They will not comment on whether the hawan may have caused the fire. What do they explain is that the hawan was held right next to the pub's wooden dance floor, most of which is now charred.
See video sent to us by http://twitter.com/karuna_ramesh
here