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.
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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.
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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.