IAS aspirant dies of suffocation in Kovai

The students were attending a class in the coaching centre at Ponnaiya Rajapuram in Coimbatore city. Around 3.45 pm the building caught fire due to an electrical leakage and spread to the place where a few fireworks were stored in gift boxes in a room on the ground floor. Three fire tenders rushed to the KPR IAS Academy at AKS Nagar near Gandhi Park, run by KPR mills. A corporation water tanker was also pressed into service to put out the flames. 

Students were attending the Union Civil Service Commission, Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission and computer courses in the three storey building. One of the students C. Prakash (21), an UPSC aspirant said that he was in the ground floor when he heard fireworks bursting and noticed a cloud of smoke engulfing the first floor. Those in the ground floor and second floor managed to rush out of the building. Seven youth who were in the first floor faced difficulty coming out as a portion of the floor was engulfed with thick ball of smoke.

Unable to see and breathe they got stuck there for a few minutes till fire fighters reached them. Those rescued were identified as Sakthivel (23), Kirish Raja (23), Vijayalakshmi (24), Selvaraju (25), Gayathri (26), Muthumaragatharaj (26) and Aranganathan (25). Sakthivel and five others were rushed to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. Another victim was admitted to a private hospital. Sakthivel succumbed around 4.45 pm due to asphyxiation. City police commissioner A Amalraj and district fire officer SR Chandran supervised the rescue operations. Collector TN Hariharan visited the spot and inquired the victims at hospital. A senior police officer said that a forensic team was trying to ascertain the cause of the fire.