Mumbai, September 13 (BNA): Indian police said today, Tuesday, that a fire broke out in a showroom of electric scooters, killing at least eight people and injuring 11 others, in the deadliest accident of its kind involving electric vehicles in the country.
A wave of electric scooter fires this year has alarmed the government, which is keen to promote the use of such two-wheeled vehicles in its fight against pollution. Early investigations have identified faulty battery cells and battery modules among the main causes, according to Reuters.
The latest fire broke out late on Monday in the basement of a hotel housing a showroom housing about two dozen electric scooters in the southern city of Secunderabad, police said. They added that he was controlled and an investigation was opened.
Most of the dead were occupants of the smoke-swept hotel.
“There were electric bikes parked where the fire started,” city police official Chandana Dipty told Reuters.
“We don’t know if it started due to overcharging and then spread or if it started somewhere else. This is still under construction.”
The identity of the dealer and the model of the scooter sold were not immediately clear.
Media photos showed that police and firefighters used cranes and other equipment to lift stranded hotel guests from the upper floors of the four-storey building, with smoke billowing from its windows.
“The residents on the first and second floors were covered in smoke, and the largest number of casualties are from those floors,” CV Anand police chief of neighboring Hyderabad told a Reuters partner.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was saddened by the deaths and promised compensation for the victims of the fire.
In March, India launched an investigation into safety concerns after a series of e-scooter fires, including one that killed a man and his daughter when “their e-bike caught fire”.
India wants e-scooters and e-bikes to make up 80% of all two-wheeled sales by 2030, from about 2% now.
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