Blaze at factory kills three in Shahdara, clogged lane slows down rescue effort

NEW DELHI: Three people, including two women, died in a blaze at an industrial unit in Shahdara’s Jhilmil Industrial Area on Saturday morning. Though the exact cause of the fire is yet to be determined, it is suspected that starting a machine on the ground floor might have caused a short-circuit. The ground floor, according to witnesses, had packaging material consisting of cardboards and plastic sheets lying around and they might have been set afire by the sparks.

The deceased have been identified as Sangeeta Devi (46), Manju Devi (44) and Shoaib Ali (19). Pradeep Kumar, supervisor at the unit manufacturing brass taps and other bathroom items, said there were around 60 workers in the three-storey building at the time of the fire.
Because work usually began around 9am, the fire could have begun when the various machines were turned on for the day’s work. Kumar said that soon after, “There were loud cries for help when workers began screaming that a fire had broken out.” He added, “Everyone except the three deceased were able to run out of the building.”
Chief fire officer Atul Garg said that Delhi Fire Service received information about the fire at 9.25am and 26 fire tenders were sent to the site. Later four others were also pressed into service.
When the firemen reached the scene, they found the road leading to the unit obstructed by parked rickshaws and cars. “We got the road cleared of these, but despite that, there was only space for one fire tender at a time to reach the burning building. After each fire engine exhausted its water, it had to reverse down the lane before another could go in,” disclosed a fire officer.
To quicken the rescue operation, a three-way approach was launched. While one team equipped with breathing apparatus entered the building through the main gate, another placed a ladder to reach and rescue the people trapped on the first floor. A third team went behind the building and made three big holes in the wall to enter and douse the burning material. In total, seven trapped people were rescued by the teams.
On the second floor, the fire fighters found two women lying unconscious on the second floor and a man on the third floor. All three were declared dead when they were taken to hospital.
It took five hours for the fire to be extinguished. The cooling operations continued till late night on Saturday. The adjacent building was also affected by the flames and people were evacuated from there too.
Police said the manufacturing facility belonged to Corsa Bath Fittings run by four brothers, Naeem, Wasim, Adnan and Shanu, residents of northeast Delhi’s Jafrabad. They have been asked to join in the investigation. The cops have also registered an FIR against unknown people under Section 285 of the Indian Penal Code for negligent conduct with regard to fire or combustible matter and Section 304A for causing death due to negligence.
In a statement later, East Delhi Municipal Corporation said that it would carry out a detailed investigation of the factory fire. Ranen Kumar, deputy commissioner of the corporation’s factory licence department, added, “After preliminary inquiries, we found that the licence of that factory had expired and had not been renewed.”
He said that the manufacturing facility was built over 110 square metres and required a fire safety clearance under the norms for units below 250 square metres. He, however, pointed out that reports had established the unit did have fire extinguishers installed on the premises and that no child labour were employed there.