A six-year-old girl was killed in a major fire that broke out in the shanties of Shahdara’s Mansarovar Park on Monday, the police said.
At least 250 jhuggis were reduced to ashes in the fire, they added.
The deceased is suspected to be one Kalua, who was the only daughter of her parents, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Nupur Prasad, adding that the girl was nowhere to be seen when the fire broke out.
“During the debris removal operation, she was found inside the jhuggi of one Ram Vilas, who is her uncle. So, we suspect that it is the same girl,” the officer said.
15 fire tenders
A fire official said that they received a call at 1.05 p.m. regarding fire in the jhuggis after which 15 fire tenders were pressed into service.
“The fire was brought under control by 3.50 p.m. The cooling process might end by midnight,” he said.
Cause of fire
The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, Ms. Prasad said, adding that the it increased because of the presence of flammable objects in the shanties including gas cylinders.
Rama Devi, a resident of the jhuggis, said that she has lost everything in the incident.
“All our belongings, clothes, savings of a few hundreds are gone. I don’t know how we will survive the next few days,” he said.
As the fire broke out very close to the Metro line, the services were disrupted for nearly an hour.
“At 1.15 p.m. , heavy smoke was reported to have originated from the nearby slums beneath the viaduct between Mansarovar Park and Shahdara (line 1) metro stations. As a precautionary measure, train services were suspended at three stations between Dilshad Garden and Mansarovar Park metro stations during this period,” officials of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said.
They, however, said that services on the remaining stretch remained normal.
“Rest of the line remained unaffected. At 2.33 p.m., normal services resumed after due clearances,” a DMRC official said.
