Fire in East Delhi colony, 10 killed

Fire in East Delhi colony, 10 killed
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, JAN 2: Ten persons, including six children, died of asphyxia after a fire broke out at a congested builiding in Geeta Colony, East Delhi, at 1.30 a.m. on Sunday.

The fire is suspected to be the result of a short-circuit in a plastic-goods shop, police said. The fire spread to the adjacent electrical-goods shop separated by a three-feet wide aisle leading to the rooms where the victims were sleeping.

"The aisle is the only way out of the rooms. The people inside died probably after inhaling poisonous fumes from the burning plastic," police said. "Primary investigations show that they tried to come out but was blocked by a locked grill and a shutter." The dead include Ashok Kumar (35), an eatables vendor, his wife Mukesh (30), daughter Sethia (12) and sons Rahul (10) and Deepak (8) who were sleeping inside the building. Two boys, aged 12 and 14, who worked as helpers with Ashok also died in the fire. Their names are not yet known, police said.

In another room, Jitender Kumar alias Lalu (26) hiswife Renu (23) and infant son Nitesh were found dead. Jitender Kumar worked as a conductor for one of the buses owned by the landlord, Jitender Sharma.

Sharma, who lives on the first floor of the building with his family, also runs the plastic-goods shop Jitender Plastic Bhandar. He and his family managed to leap to safety with the help of neighbours and residents of village Khukrejee, across the road, who were awake due to Ramzan celebrations, eye-witnesses said.

In all 11 persons, living in four different rooms on the ground floor, were trapped inside the building. The lone survivor was an auto-rickshaw driver Rakesh Kumar (30), who is now in a hospital.

"We broke the shutter with a log and brought the trapped people out. By then fire-brigade and police also arrived. They appeared unconsious while being taken to hospital," a resident of Khukrejee said.

Police sources said that 10 of the 11 victims were declared dead by doctors at the LNJP hospital. Jitender Sharma was also hospitalised for treatingminor burns. His younger brother Bhupender said Sharma burnt his hands while trying to douse the fire.

The police have registered a case of death due to negligence and mischief caused by fire, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) S. Nityanandan said. "We are awaiting the post-mortem reports," he said. No arrests had been made so far. "We have asked the fire services for a report on the cause of fire before fixing responsibility," he added. The victims' families were expected to come in by tomorrow, police added.

The lucky family
Rakesh Kumar, 30, is the only survivor among the 11 who were trapped inside the Geeta Colony building that caught fire. Miraculously, his wife and three children were not home at the time of the incident.

Kumar has not sustained any burns, but is lying unconsious at the LNJP hospital. "He is moving a bit and is right now on oxygen," Manoj Panwar, Kumar's brother-in-law told Express Newsline. Panwar had taken his sister (Kumar's wife) Sunita and her two youngerchildren, Komal and Monu to his house on Lodi Road, last Monday. "They would've returned last night but I asked her to stay on because the children had to go to school only on Monday," Panwar said.

Elder son, Sonu (10), had gone to Baghpat in UP to his grandfather's house. "Rakesh was undergoing treatment for a rash on the neck at AIIMS, so he met Sunita and the children on the way everyday," he added. "By some strange coincidence, everyone in the family is safe," Panwar said.