Delhi, Indore blazes leave 17 dead; PM expresses sorrow, announces ex gratia

NEW DELHI/INDORE, March 18: Devastating fires in Delhi and Indore on Wednesday killed 17 people, many of them children, and gutted several shops in busy markets in Ahmedabad and Chandigarh, triggering panic and large-scale firefighting operations.
Authorities rushed teams to contain the flames and rescue those trapped, ordered probes into the incidents and announced financial compensation for the victims.
In the national capital, nine members of a family, including three children and a 70-year-old woman, were killed after a massive fire tore through a multi-storey residential-cum-commercial building in southwest Delhi’s Palam area. Three others were injured, two of them jumped from the building at Ram Chowk Market near Palam Metro Station in a desperate attempt to escape the flames.
Around 30 fire tenders and 11 ambulances were pressed into service, along with personnel from the police, BSES, Air Force Police and the NDRF, as part of a massive firefighting and rescue operation.
Visuals from the scene showed thick plumes of black smoke billowing out of the building and rising into the sky, with flames engulfing parts of the structure as firefighters battled the blaze in the congested market area.
The fire was doused around 2.20 pm, and a cooling operation began after that.
In Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, eight members of a family were killed after a fire broke out at a local businessman’s three-storey house following an explosion at an EV charging point outside the building. Police said a car being charged outside the house caught fire after the explosion, and the flames spread rapidly to the building.
Investigators said they found clues of 10 to 11 LPG cylinders stored at the house located in Brajeshwari Annex Colony, and explosions of some of these gas containers intensified the blaze that broke out around 4 am.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep sorrow over the two fire incidents and announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the PM National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 for those injured. (PTI)