43 die in Delhi as big fire erupts in a building with illegal\nfactory<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New Delhi,Dec.9: In the national capital\u2019s worst fire\naccident since the 1997 Uphaar Cinema tragedy, 43 people died when a massive\nblaze ripped through a four-storey building housing an illegal manufacturing\nunit in north Delhi\u2019s congested Anaj Mandi area on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police and fire officials said most of the fatalities were\ndue to suffocation as many people were sleeping when the fire started at around\n5 am on the second floor of the building that did not have fire safety\nclearance. Those awakened by the fire, suspected by officials to have been\ntriggered by a short-circuit due to \u201cinternal system\u201d trouble, had to struggle\nto escape as the exit routes were partially blocked and many windows were found\nsealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the building lacked proper ventilation, most of the people\ndied due to asphyxia. National Disas-ter Response Force deputy commander Aditya\nPratap Singh said they had detected carbon monoxide (CO) in the building. \u201cThe\nentire third and fourth floors was engulfed with smoke. The content of CO was\nmore.\u201d He said when his team started operations, it found some windows sealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chaotic scenes were seen at the site, clogged with bystanders\nand politicians arriving in convoys. Firemen made their way through narrow\nlanes to rescue those trapped inside the blackened building and carried many\nunconscious labou-rers on their backs. At the hospitals where the dead and\ninjured were taken \u2014 LNJP Hospital and Lady Hardinge Hospital \u2014 distraught\nrelatives had a hard time finding their family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThirty-four people were brought dead to LNJP Hospital and\nsmoke inhalation was the primary cause of death. Some bodies were charred,\u201d\nsaid Dr Kishore Singh, LNJP\u2019s medical superintendent. Out of 15 injured people\nbrought to LNJP, nine are under observation and others have partial injuries,\nhe said. Nine people were brought dead to Lady Hardinge Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Delhi Fire Service director Atul Garg said the building in\nwhich the leather and other factories were operating did not have fire\nclearance and no fire safety equipment was found installed on the premises. The\nnarrow lanes of Anaj Mandi made rescue operations hard for firefighters, who\nhad to cut window grills to get access to the building. A preliminary probe\nsuggested a short-circuit triggered the blaze. Power discom BYPL said the fire\nbegan due to \u201cinternal system\u201d trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fire was first reported at 5.22 am, after which 30 fire\ntenders were rushed to the spot. A Delhi Fire Service official said 150\nfirefighters worked to pull 63 people out from the building. While 43 labourers\ndied, many others were injured, including two fire department personnel. The\ninjured included a minor. However, it was not confirmed whether the injured\nworked in the units. Most of the labourers were migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Narrating the horrific incident, eyewitness Raunak Khan said\npeople were screaming and pleading for help from the narrow window panes, which\nwere fitted with iron railings, as they were struggling to breathe. Locals\nthrew wet cloths at them through the windows and even gave them hammers in\norder to break the iron grills, but it all went in vain initially. Later, gas\ncutters were used to cut the grills, after which some of them were rescued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The police has arrested the building owner, Rehan, and his\nmanager, Furkhan, and efforts are on to track the other persons involved in the\nrunning of factories at different floors of the building. The duo has been\nbooked under IPC Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and\n285 (negligent conduct with respect to\nfire or combustible matter). Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has also ordered a\nmagisterial inquiry and sought a detailed report within a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) analysed the building\nand possible places from where the fire could have started but could not\ncollect any samples due to the rescue work by the fire department and NDRF\nstaff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They said the samples can only be collected after the fire is\ncompletely doused. \u201cScientifically, the articles can only be collected after\nthe fire has completely ended and we can get access to the rooms. The FSL teams\nmay have to visit the spot multiple times as it was a massive fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An intense political blame game began after the tragedy, with\nthe BJP holding the Arvind Kejriwal government responsible for the incident and\nthe AAP alleging that the saffron party was doing politics over dead bodies.\nThe Congress, however, accused both the BJP, which is power in all three\nmunicipal corporations, and the AAP over the worst fire tragedy in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the fire as \u201cextremely\nhorrific\u201d and Mr Kejriwal said it was \u201cvery, very tragic\u201d. Mr Modi and Mr\nKejriwal also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakhs and Rs 10 lakhs each for the\nnext of kin of those who lost their lives. Mr Kejriwal also announced Rs 1 lakh\nfor the injured and said his government would bear the cost of their treatment.\nThe Prime Minister has approved Rs 50,000 each for those seriously injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-AA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
43 die in Delhi as big fire erupts in a building with illegal factory New Delhi,Dec.9: In the national capital\u2019s worst fire accident since the 1997 Uphaar Cinema tragedy, 43<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-top-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n