Blaze at Narela footwear factory kills 2 workers

NEW DELHI: Two workers of a footwear manufacturing unit in Bhorgarh industrial area in Narela died when a fire broke out in the factory early on Saturday. The victims died in their sleep due to asphyxiation.
Fire department officials said that they received a call at 2.30am. Subsequently, eight fire tenders were sent to the spot and the blaze was brought under control after an hour.Witnesses said that there were around 14 people on the ground floor of the building E-909, where the work was going on. They managed to escape unhurt and no damage was reported from the ground floor. However, fire fighters recovered two charred bodies on the first floor. The two were later identified as Kuldeep (20) and Vinay (25), cousins . Their uncle is the supervisor of the unit.
DCP (Rohini) Rajneesh Gupta said that a case has been registered and the owner of the factory is being questioned by the police. Investigating officers said that the preliminary probe indicated that a short circuit on the first floor led to the fire.
The shoe manufacturing unit was running on the ground and first floor of the building. While the ground floor was used for moulding and preparing the products, the first floor was used for storage and packaging. Apart from this, there was a small room where, Vinay, who was working as a security guard in the unit used to sleep. His cousin Kuldeep, who came to Delhi recently, used to work in the adjacent factory.
Workers said that Kuldeep used to come to the shoe factory to sleep with Vinay.
A worker, who informed the fire department, said there were some sparks in the wires following which the packaging material which was lying nearby caught fire. The thick smoke quickly engulfed the room, but a major tragedy was averted as the flames did not reach the ground floor.
Workers on the ground floor were unaware of the fire and left only when people from the adjoining buildings alerted them. The two victims were found on the bed, which indicated that the two died due to asphyxiation.
The bodies have been sent to a nearby hospital and will be handed over to the family members who live in Uttar Pradesh. Cops are probing if the factory had sufficient fire fighting measures.