1 dead, 6 hurt after E Delhi factory fire
Karn Pratap Singh
NEW DELHI: A 42-year-old man was charred to death while at least six others, including a woman, suffered serious burns on Thursday noon after a fire broke out following an explosion in a factory in north-east Delhi’s New Mustafabad area, police said.
Though the exact reason behind the blast and fire was still being probed, the police and fire officials suspected that the explosion may have taken place in a gas cylinder or in the compressor of a powder coating plant that was installed on the first floor of the factory building.
The factory manufactured and painted air cooler fan blades and metallic bodies of stabilizers and inverters.
All seven victims were workers at the factory that was operating in a two-storey dilapidated building spread in a 200 square yard area in the congested Street number-23 in New Mustafabad.
Officials said Inderjeet Pandey, 42, was severely burnt and succumbed to his wounds at the hospital, and other six injured workers also suffered burns all over their bodies. The condition of the woman, identified as Usnara, and at least two others were said to be critical at the Jag Pravesh Chandra hospital, police said.
An eighth worker named Sonu was inside the bathroom on the first floor when the explosion took place. Sonu told the media persons that he jumped off the first floor and suffered fractures in his legs. The other injured workers were identified as Gulfam, Aamir, Babul, Bilal and Shamim, all residents of Mustafabad. Pandey lived with his family in Sonia Vihar, and was a painter at the factory.
The building and the factory was owned by a resident of Babarpur in north-east Delhi, police said.
“We felt a tremor and rushed out of the building. At first, we thought there was bomb blast in our neighbourhood as there was dust and smoke all around. Some locals screamed that a building had collapsed due to an earthquake. It was only after a couple of minutes that the dust settled down and we saw fire and smoke coming out of the factory building,” said Mohammad Ashfaq, who lives with his family in a three-storey building across the factory building.
Delhi Fire Service (DFS) chief Atul Garg said that the fire control room received a call at 12.17pm and six fire tenders were rushed to the fire spot. “A total of seven people were rescued from the building. One of them was dead while another was critically injured. The others also had burns. The factory did not have a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department,” said Garg.
Deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Sanjay Kumar Sain said, “The woman, Usnara, had serious burns. We are probing if the factory was illegal and running without mandatory clearances from the authorities. The cause of the fire is also being ascertained.”
The incident comes six days after a devastating fire in a factory at a Mundka building killed 27 people.
East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal said that an inquiry committee will be formed to probe into the matter. “The unit did not have a licence to operate. It had been challaned. We will check if there was any lapse on the part of zonal officials for not sealing the premises. Only certain trades are allowed in residential areas and this unit was illegal,” he added.