‘We ran, jumping over charred bodies’
LUCKY ESCAPE Just two people survived the fire in a Bawana packaging unit. They say they were lucky to get to the roof from where they jumped
As soon as I reached the roof, I could not jump off. In the beginning, I tried to hold the pipes leading to the ground but eventually jumped. I broke my leg.
ROOP PRAKASH, 25, from Unnao, UP I saw billowing smoke from the ground floor. I heard someone shout, jump. I saw people running for cover while many had already been charred. I jumped over them and reached stairs. SUNITA SINGH, 45, from Sitapur, UP
NEW DELHI : “I saw smoke billowing from the ground floor of the building. I heard someone shout, jump. I saw people running for cover while many had already been charred. I jumped over them and reached the top floor. We jumped off the top floor. I broke my legs but I am alive, “said Sunita Singh,45.
She was one of the two who survived Saturday’s fire in a Bawana factory, in which 17 people died.
She and another co-worker jumped three storeys from the top floor to save their lives.
The mother of four, Sunita is a migrant labourer from Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district. She was referred to the Lok Nayak hospital for treatment on Sunday afternoon. She is being treated at the orthopaedics ward of the hospital, near Delhi Gate.
Sunita was accompanied by her son, Mishri Lal, 22, and daughter Savita, 24.
She is thankful to Roop Prakash, her co-worker and co-survivor, whose whereabouts she has been asking ever since she was shifted to the hospital.
As luck would have it, Sunita, whose farmer husband Bacchan Lal, 50 is disabled, said she had shifted to the Bawana factory just two days ago. She said she was told that it was a paint manufacturing factory where she would have to package paint material.
Of the 17 casualties, the police have been able to identify 13 bodies only. Officials said some bodies have been charred beyond recognition and doctors have suggested that they might have to conduct DNA tests to establish identities of the victims.
“I did not know about firecrackers because I have been here only for 2 days. I shifted here as I got ₹6,000 per month for eight hours a day,” she said. Sunita and her family have been living in the nearby slum for three years after migrating from Uttar Pradesh. Her husband was in his native village in Sitapur on Saturday.
The police are also probing how the factory was allowed to store fireworks which had no requisite safety clearances to package explosives.
Sunita’s fellow survivor, Roop Prakash, 25, from Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, recalls how he had to run pass through half-burnt bodies as he climbed up the stairs to the roof. Undergoing treatment at Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini, Prakash is among the two injured in Saturday’s fire.
According to GC Misra, Delhi Fire Services Chief, of the 17 dead, 11 bodies were found on the first floor, three on the ground floor, two on the stairs and a lone body was found in the basement, according to Misra
“As soon as I reached the roof, I could not jump off. In the beginning, I tried to hold the pipes leading to the ground but eventually jumped. I broke my leg,” he said.
“However, I lost three relatives in the fire,” he said.
Officials said a short circuit triggered the fire, which spread rapidly due to the presence of firecrackers.