Three fire incidents claim five lives

Pregnant woman, minor among those dead; over 100 left homeless after flames engulf south Delhi slum

May 01, 2017 07:21 am | Updated 07:21 am IST - NEW DELHI

In ruins: The slum in Begampur, where a fire broke out on Sunday. The Delhi government has announced a compensation of ₹2 lakh for the family of the person killed and ₹25,000 to each affected household. R. V. Moorthy

In ruins: The slum in Begampur, where a fire broke out on Sunday. The Delhi government has announced a compensation of ₹2 lakh for the family of the person killed and ₹25,000 to each affected household. R. V. Moorthy

Five persons died and two others were injured in three incidents of fire reported in the Capital between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

While two of the cases were reported from the homes of respective victims in Sultanpuri and Sriniwaspuri, the third left nearly 100 people from a slum cluster in Malviya Nagar homeless.

The Sriniwaspuri incident was reported around 8.30 p.m. on Saturday.

Cylinder blast

According to a fire officer, two labourers in a slum were preparing food when their cylinder exploded.

The victims, identified as Vasudev (50) and his son Arjun (18), were taken to a hospital, where they succumbed to injuries.

The officer said both had suffered 80% burns.

A few hours later, a scrap godown in neighbouring Begampur caught fire.

25 fire tenders sent

A fire officer said 25 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Two injured persons were rushed to Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital, where one of them was declared brought dead.

The deceased was identified as Ashok Gupta (50). The other victim, 56-year-old Makhhan Singh, is recuperating.

Since the godown was located in a slum cluster, the fire also spread to nearly 30-40 houses, rendering nearly 100 people homeless.

CM pays visit

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Deputy Manish Sisodia visited the slum cluster after the incident.

The Delhi government has announced a compensation of ₹2 lakh for the family of the person killed and ₹25,000 to each affected household. Mr. Kejriwal assured the families of free medical treatment.

The third fire was reported from a four-storey building in outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri around 4 a.m. on Sunday.

A pregnant woman and a teenager died in the incident.

They were identified as 30-year-old Anjali and 13-year-old Aditi. Another child, Tavishka (8), was injured.

The police suspect the cause of fire was a short-circuit on the ground floor of the house.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.