Building owner and manager arrested
New Delhi: At least 43 people were killed when a massive fire ripped through a four-storey building housing illegal manufacturing units in north Delhi’s congested Anaj Mandi area on Sunday morning, in the second deadliest blaze in the national capital.
Almost all the deceased were migrant labourers hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Police and fire department officials said many of the fatalities occurred due to suffocation as the people were sleeping when the fire started at around 5 am on the second floor of the building that did not have fire safety clearance and was packed with combustible material like cardboards.
It took over 150 firefighters nearly five hours to douse the blaze. As many as 63 people were pulled out of the building.
While 43, including one minor, died, 16 were injured. Two fire department personnel were hurt while carrying out rescue work, officials said.
Those awakened by the fire, suspected by officials to have been triggered by a short-circuit, had to struggle to escape as the exit routes were partially blocked and several windows were found sealed. Police have arrested the property owner Rehan and his manager Furkan and a case has been registered under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire) of the IPC.
The case has been transferred to the Crime Branch. The Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe into the tragedy, the worst fire accident in the national capital since the 1997 Uphaar cinema blaze that claimed 59 lives, and sought a report within seven days.
Officials said 35 fire tenders were rushed after the blaze was reported at 5.22 am in the Anaj Mandi building which housed manufacturing units for glass items, cardboards, handbags and other goods.
The building was packed with cardboards, plastic wrappings, garments, rexine, plastic toys and packaging items, aggravating the fire and resulting in dense smoke which suffocated the people trapped inside, they said.
Firoz Khan, 32, who worked in a cap manufacturing unit on the third floor and escaped unhurt, said the fire appeared to have started on the second floor and he could flee after alerting others as he was sleeping near a door.
“When I got up, I saw flames engulfing the room in which we were sleeping. The door was about six metres away from me and I alerted other workers sleeping near me,” he said.
“Four-five of us rushed out through the door. Many sleeping away from the door were trapped. I don’t know if they are alive,” he said. The injured included two minors.
However, it was not confirmed whether they worked in the units. The narrow lanes of Anaj Mandi area made rescue operations difficult for firefighters, who had to cut window-grills to get access to the building. Some injured were carried to the hospital in auto rickshaws.
A preliminary probe suggested that a short-circuit triggered the blaze. Power discom BYPL said the fire began due to “internal system” trouble. (PTI)