Hyderabad: Gokool Restaurant, the well known budget eatery near Kasturba Gandhi College on West Marredpally main road, frequented mostly by the college crowd of Secunderabad, caught fire early on Saturday morning. The staffers, who were asleep inside the restaurant however managed to get out safely without any incident.

According to eye witnesses, fire erupted inside the kitchen at about 5 AM on Saturday morning and spread quickly burning the furniture on the ground floor. Two fire engines were rushed to the spot to put down the fire, which the firemen took a good two hours to prevent it from spreading to other areas in the part-commercial, part-residential complex.

Though the restaurant management initially attributed the fire to electrical malfunctioning the fire officials suspect the gas stove to be the source of the fire. Fire officials said they saw fire crackers exploding when they arrived on the scene and explained that it could be that fire crackers could have been stored there for Diwali.

Thick smoke gushed through the ventilation to the residential part of the building. Sleeping residents scrambled to their feet and rushed out before getting caught in the smoke and fire.

The staffers who were supposedly sleeping in one corner of the restaurant also ran out immediately and managed to escape unhurt.

The police revealed they not investigating the incident as there was no official complaint from the owners. They have however alerted GHMC to ascertain if the restaurant had the required permissions.