Tragedy has struck the Indian student community in London after a devastating house fire claimed lives of two young men and left a third in hospital.
The blaze broke out on the night of February 23 at a rented property in Croydon, South London. Among the victims was 26-year-old Kamineni Sai Srikar, a Master’s student from Nizamabad, Telangana, who had moved to the UK to further his studies after completing an engineering degree in Hyderabad.
The fire proved fatal for two of the three roommates sharing the house.
Ganti Abhishek, 28, a native of Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, Abhishek tragically died at the scene. Reports indicate he succumbed to smoke inhalation before emergency services could reach him.
Kamineni Sai Srikar, 26, was rushed to Croydon University Hospital with life-threatening injuries. After battling for several days, he was tragically declared brain-dead and later passed away.
A third housemate somehow managed to escape the burning building, though not without injury. He remains under medical care, where his condition is being monitored.
In Nizamabad, Srikar’s grieving family has been left reeling by the news. They have made an urgent appeal to government officials and the Ministry of External Affairs to coordinate with the Indian High Commission in London to repatriate his body as quickly as possible.
Even while the cause of the fire in the Croydon building remains to be investigated by the London Fire Brigade, the recent incident has brought to the fore the existing concerns that have been surrounding the safety standards of rented buildings that are usually inhabited by international students.
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