FIRE IN CRACKER FACTORY IN FARRUKH NAGAR KILLS FIVE
GHAZIABAD: An explosion at an illegal firecrackers factory in Farrukh Nagar area of Sahibabad left five dead and two critically injured on Friday.
The incident occurred in the afternoon and the cause of the fire is still unknown. The factory owner was among the fatalities in Friday’s accident.
The deceased have been identified as the owner of the factory Pappu (55) and four workers Ashfaq (40), Rafeeq (60), Sageer (40) and Qutubuddin (50).
According to police, the incident occurred around 1 pm. Though the cause of the fire is yet to be determined, it is suspected that the fire is originated from a lit piece of beedi that was thrown by one of the workers.
Several other workers were also on duty in the factory when the blast occurred.
The impact of the explosion was such that the bodies of at least two of the deceased were scattered to pieces.
According to the fire department, they were informed about the incident around 1.20 pm.
“We received information at 1.20 pm and nearly a dozen fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames. It took two hours for us to take control over the fire. The fire has been extinguished and it is still unclear what caused it,” said Akshay Sharma, chief fire officer, Ghaziabad.
Police said that the crackers were inside the factory’s godown when the incident occurred.
“No FIR has been registered yet as the godown owner too had died in the incident. The bodies have been sent for postmortem. The crackers were being packed in the godown and ready to set out for sale when the incident occurred. It is still unclear as to how many people were present at the factory at the time of incident. More details will be revealed after further investigation” said police officials.
Farrukh Nagar is situated near the Hindon Indian Air Force station and crackers manufactured in the area are sold all over Ghaziabad and nearby cities. There are many illegal fireworks factories operational in the area, which operate without a permission to make crackers.
With the marriage season on, the stock of fireworks in the godown were abundant which resulted in such a deadly blast. Though the National Green Tribunal had ordered closure of firecracker factories in the area, owners of such factories are still continuing their business.