IN A tragic incident, a massive fire broke out inside a house in Indore while charging electric car that has claimed eight lives and leaving four injured in Brijeshwari Annexe Colony on Wednesday around 4 am. The blaze rapidly engulfed the three-storied house even as district administration began the rescue operation promptly and fire tenders reached the spot. Alarmed by the incident, the Madhya Pradesh Government announced a detailed investigation into it by a committee of experts and the framing of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for EV charging. Elaborating more on this incident exclusively to ‘The Hitavada’, Manish Lodha, SHO of Tilak Nagar Police Station, told that all the eight deceased were identified. There were twelve members in the house. Six were from the same family while another six were their guests. Eight people lost their lives as electric car caught fire and exploded during charging that led to explosion in domestic cylinders.

 

Due to swift action by the administration three people were rescued safely while one is injured. In the near-by areas chaos and panic prevailed. Eyewitnesses said that they noticed black smoke billowing from the apartment and gradually turns in to intense flames that spread across multiple floors. The deceased have been identified, which include Vijay Sethia (65), his son Chhotu Sethia (22), Vijay’s wife Suman (60), Manoj (65), Simran (35), Rashi Sethia (12), Teenu (35) and Tanmay (6). Indore District Magistrate (DM) Shivam Verma directed officials to contain the inferno and search for survivors. It is learnt that due to charging short circuit occurred in the house that has led to serial blast of LPG cylinders and doors were locked due to power outage.

 

Talking to ‘The Hitavada’ over phone, police said that as per initial findings, an electric vehicle was being charged outside the house, and the charging point exploded. After that, the fire then spread to the house from the car. We found that there were electronic locks in the building, so it seems that after the explosion, power cuts may have occurred and doors would have been locked. It was a three-storey building, and more than 10 gas cylinders were also stored inside the house, some of which exploded. We also witnessed cylinder explosions between 4 and 4:30 am. Extent of devastation can be understood with the fact that identities of deceased could not be fully revealed as their kith and kins were awaiting for several hours to get confirmation. Dean of MGM Medical College Dr Arvind Ghanghoriya said that a total of eight bodies were brought for post-mortem, which was being conducted by a team of forensic experts and doctors. Meanwhile, State Urban Development and Housing Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, who visited the scene, said, “This tragic incident is alarming because the house caught fire while an EV was being charged. We have asked the police and administration to conduct a detailed investigation by a committee of experts to prevent a recurrence of this incident.” Along with the investigation into the incident, an SOP for EV charging will also be prepared, the Minister said. “In light of the rising crude oil prices due to current geopolitical developments, there is a growing interest in electric vehicles. In such a situation, the fire that occurred during the charging of an EV serves as a caution for us,” he said.