Building fire kills dozens in Delhi, police arrest two
Modi saddened by the loss of lives and wishes for the speedy recovery of the injured; bodies of 7 victims identified
Police arrested two owners of a company that manufactures and sells security cameras ater a massive fire reportedly started in their office in a four-story commercial building in the Indian capital, killing 27 people and injuring 12 others, police and fire officials said on Saturday.
The police registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and a criminal conspiracy that is punishable with life imprisonment or 10 years in jail.
The building had no clearance from the fire department and it was not equipped with fire safety equipment like extinguishers, said Atul Garg, director of Delhi Fire Services.
Garg said the fire started on the first floor of the building Friday evening and spread quickly to other areas where inflammable plastic material used to manufacture equipment including security cameras and a large quantity of cardboard used for packaging were stored.
All 27 bodies were recovered from the second floor where people atending a motivational meeting were engulfed in the fire, Garg said.
Only 7 victims have been identified so far because badly charred bodies were making identification difficult, he said, adding that the rescue work was over.
Bodies of Tania Bhushan, Mohini Pal, Yashoda Devi, Ranju Devi, Vishal, Drishti and Kailash Jyani have been identified till now.
The remaining 20 are yet to be identified. At least 50 people were rescued from the building, which contains mainly shops, the fire control room said.
The building is located in the Mundka area in western New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was saddened by the loss of lives and wished for the speedy recovery of the 12 injured who have been hospitalised.
Harish Goel and his brother Varun Goel were first detained for questioning and later arrested, the Press Trust of India reported, citing police officer Sameer Sharma.
Sachin Garg, a resident in the area, said the building had only one exit door, and people trapped there found it difficult to leave quickly because of a crush.
“They called ambulances and fire officials used crane buckets to rescue people,” he said.
Satbir Lakra, another resident, said several men and women smashed glass walls and jumped to the ground floor.
The building is located in a congested area with industrial units and the fire engines took time to reach the spot, Garg said.
Twenty-seven fire engines doused the flames ater batling for more than five hours.
A search operation continued overnight to look for anyone trapped in the rubble, the fire control room said.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear and is being investigated.
Garg said there were conflicting reports. Some said the fire started ater an explosion in an airconditioner and others said it was triggered by an electric short-circuit.
Meanwhile, the relatives of the people, who were inside the building at the time of the fire incident, are still clueless and unable to find their loved ones, 15 hours ater the inferno claimed 27 lives.
Most of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition making it difficult to even identify the gender.
Pertinently, 24 women and five men are still reportedly missing since the incident.
Manoj Thakur, from Saharsa in Bihar, said that he is trying to locate his wife Soni who was at the building when the incident occurred.
He said Soni had called him to inform about the fire, but her phone was switched off ater that. “We are moving from pillar to post to locate her,” the worried husband said.
Chaos prevailed the whole night at the Sanjay Gandhi hospital where the bodies from the incident were shited with people coming in to locate their loved ones.
“I have been siting here for the past 12 hours and have no clue where my wife is. We are getting no response from the officials,” said another man at the hospital whose wife used to work in the same building.
Kin of another missing man said that they got to know about the incident while watching the news and since then have been running helterskelter in search of their relative.