New Delhi: Nine people, including three children, were killed after a massive fire ripped through a three-storey residential-cum-commercial building in Outer Delhi’s Kirari area.
The incident took place in the wee hours of Monday. The issue of illegal commercial- cum-residential house has once again raised a question on the authorities’ functioning. Meanwhile, the Delhi government also announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of those who died in the fire.
According to a senior Delhi Fire Services (DFS) official, a call regarding the blaze was received at around 12.20 am on Monday, following which eight fire tenders and DFS teams were dispatched for the spot.
“The blaze was brought under control by 3.50 am. During initial investigation it was revealed that the house had a cloth godown on the ground floor while the two upper floors had residences. It is suspected that a cylinder also blasted on the second floor resulting in a wall collapsing,” said Atul Garg, the chief fire officer.
“The DFS teams recovered three charred bodies and 10 persons were rescued and rushed to a nearby hospital, where nine were declared brought dead by the doctors,” said Garg.
“The building had single staircase and there was no fire safety equipment installed in it,” he added.
The cause behind the fire is being investigated. It is suspected that the fire started due to short-circuit, which led to a cylinder blasting and the subsequent wall collapse.
Those killed were identified as Ram Chandra Jha (65), the building owner; Sudariya Devi (58); Sanju Jha (36); Guddan; and the family of Udaykant Chaudhary (33) including his wife Muskan (26), their children Anjali (10), Adarsh (7), and six-month-old Tulsi.
According to a police official, three people were rescued.
“Pooja (24), her niece Saumya (10), and her three-year-old daughter Aaradhya jumped to an adjacent building to escape the blaze,” the police official added.
