43 killed in massive Delhi fire
| Date :09-Dec-2019 |
A view of the damage caused by a fire in a factory at Anaj Mandi in New Delhi on Sunday.
(R) Fire tenders on their way to the factory. (PTI)
Worst fire accident since the 1997 Uphaar Cinema tragedy
Most of the fatalities occurred due to suffocation as many people were sleeping
A four-storey building, housing illegal manufacturing units, did not have a fire clearance and no fire safety equipment was found installed
Building owner Rehan detained
PM describes the fire incident as “extremely horrific”
Modi and Kejriwal announce an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh each respectively for the next of kin of those who lost their lives
NDRF detects carbon monoxide (CO) in the building
NEW DELHI:
AT LEAST 43 people were killed when a massive fire ripped through a four-storey building housing illegal manufacturing units in north Delhi’s congested Anaj Mandi area on Sunday morning, in the second deadliest fire incident in the national capital. Almost all the deceased were migrant labourers hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Police and fire department officials said many of the fatalities occurred due to suffocation as the people were sleeping when the fire started at around 5 am on the second floor of the building that did not have fire safety clearance and was packed with combustible material like card boards.
It took over 150 firefighters nearly five hours to douse the blaze. As many as 63 people from pulled out from building. While 43, including one minor, died, 16 were injured. Two fire department personnel were hurt while carrying out rescue work, officials said. Those awakened by the fire, suspected by officials to have been triggered by a short-circuit, had to struggle to escape as the exit routes were partially blocked and several windows were found sealed. Police have arrested the property owner Rehan and his manager Furkan and a case has been registered under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire) of the IPC. The case has been transferred to the Crime Branch.
The Delhi Government ordered a magisterial probe into the tragedy, the worst fire accident in the national capital since the 1997 Uphaar Cinema blaze that claimed 59 lives. It has sought a report within seven days.
More recently, a fire at hotel
For many, search for loved ones ends at morgue, others still nursing hope
NEW DELHI,
Dec 8 (PTI)
BIHAR native Wajid Ali sank down to the floor in front of the mortuary at a city hospital after seeing the body of his young cousin and learning that his two brothers are untraceable after the massive blaze in north Delhi’s Anaj Mandi area on Sunday. Ali, in his 20s, said he works in a bag-making unit in the same area. He woke up to the sad news and rushed from one hospital to another looking for his family members, only to find his cousin’s body at the Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital (LHMC), Ten victims were brought to the hospital in central Delhi, nine of them dead and one survivor who is admitted in the ICU.
As many as 34 people were brought dead at LNJP Hospital, where 15 injured were admitted. Most of the victims were labourers, doctors said. At LHMC Hospital, fellow villagers and acquaintances were frantically looking for 14-year-old Mohammed Sahmat and 13-year-old Mohamed Mahbub, who were present in the factory during the fire. Mohammed Arman, who work at a furniture factory in Mayapuri, was showing hospital authorities the picture of Mahbub and Sahmat, only to later realise Mahbub was among those brought dead at the hospital. Mahbub’s uncle Mohammed Hakim, who is a rickshawpuller and lives in Hari Nagar, was left in despair as he saw the body of his nephew with burn injuries in the mortuary.
Survivor says, he could escape as he was sleeping near the door
NEW DELHI,
Dec 8 (PTI)
ON Sunday morning, 32-year-old Firoz Khan woke up to flames engulfing the room where he was sleeping along with his fellow workers in a building in Anaj Mandi. Khan, who is among the survivors of the deadly blaze which killed 43 persons, said he was sleeping near the door and managed to escape along with few others after alerting the inmates about the fire. Khan worked at a cap manufacturing unit on the third floor. Recalling the ordeal, he said, “When I woke up, I saw flames in the room in which we were sleeping.
“The door was around six metres away from me. I alerted the other workers sleeping near me and four or five of us rushed out through the door.” He said that many of those sleeping at a distance from the door were trapped in the fire and he does not know whether they survived the incident. The inmates had to struggle to escape as the exit routes were partially blocked and several windows were found sealed, according to rescuers. There were other distraught people too searching for their loved ones in hospitals. MHA seeks detailed report on Delhi factory fire: THE Union Home Ministry has sought a detailed report on the tragic fire that claimed the lives of 43 people and injured over a dozen on early Sunday.