As fire engulfed Carlton Towers on Tuesday evening, two Twitter users — one who was stuck in the building and another on a facing building — tweeted about what was going on.
Kiran Jonnalagadda (@Jackerhack on twitter) was one of the many people who were stuck at Carton Towers. “I’m on the fifth floor with six people and I have seen three people jump from the top floor. There’s smoke coming from the ground and top floors,” he told DNA on phone while still stuck in the building.
Kiran requested everyone not to call him and check his Twitter stream which he kept updating with pictures, till he was rescued. It was this tweet — “Carlton Towers is burning and six of us are trapped inside” — which got everyone’s attention.
Vinu Thomas, who was on a building in Diamond District, opposite Carlton Towers, was one of the first people to post about the fire. “We saw the fire through the window and ran to the terrace to see what was happening. Initially, the smoke was all over the place and we couldn’t see much or understand where the fire was. The smoke was thicker on the ground floor. Ambulances reached the spot immediately but the fire fighters took half an hour. Once they reached here, we saw them walking around the building; they looked clueless,” he said.
“Before the fire force arrived, some people on the top floor panicked and jumped. I saw a woman jump from the top floor. I was told that a few people jumped from the other side, but I did not see it. Meanwhile, the people helping the rescue team were telling everybody not to jump down but break the windows and let the smoke out. After the fire force reached, they told people to break the windows, so that helped to an extent,” Vinu said.
He kept updating the situation on Twitter as he wanted to people in Carlton to remain calm, “Twitter was the only way I could reach people there.”
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