Four charred to death at illegal garment factory in Karol Bagh
TRAGEDY Factory was being run on first floor of a fivestorey residential building with no safety measures, owner arrested
NEWDELHI: Four workers, including a differently abled man and two women, were killed while two others escaped with burns when a fire broke out at an illegal garment manufacturing factory in central Delhi’s Karol Bagh on Monday afternoon.
Firefighters said the differently abled man had collapsed near the main entrance, blocking the way out for other workers, which might have led to their deaths.
They said the blaze started when Baghan Rai, a differently abled man, spilled white petrol — a flammable chemical used to clean fabric — which caught fire from a steam iron kept nearby.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (central) Amit Sharma said they had registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code. “The owner of the factory, Ajay Khurana has been arrested in this regard,” Sharma said.
The factory was being run illegally in a five-storey residential building that houses more than 50 people and there were no fire safety arrangements in it, fire officials said.
Police said the fire broke out around 12.15pm on the first floor of the building in Beadonpura in Karol Bagh, next to Gaffar Market.
Locals and witnesses told police that they saw smoke coming out of the building and rushed for help after hearing screams. Officers from the Delhi Fire Services and police said that while two workers, Ajit Kumar and Pooja, managed to rush out of the building in time, Baghan Rai, 55, Ram Naresh, 40, Aarti, 20 and Aasha, 40, were killed in the fire.
“I was one of the first to enter the first floor of the factory where the fire started. The first floor had two rooms. Inquiry revealed that Baghan Rai, while treating a suit with cleansing solution, spilled the liquid. He was using a steam iron, which came in touch with the spirit and caught fire. With a minor blast, the table caught fire and Rai was charred to death,” Singh said. He said the room was hardly 15x10 metres in size.
Singh said Rai was working next to the main door. “His charred body was found near the entrance, which suggests he could have blocked the way for others. The other three – Aasha, Aarti and Naresh — were found dead at the back of the floor from where they might have tried to escape. They died of the heat and suffocation,” Singh said.
The firefighters said the area is so congested that access to the building was a challenging task. They said they had to lay their water hose through the houses built on the main road to reach the affected building.
Om Prakash, who is a designer in the same factory, said the workshop runs from three adjoining buildings too. “The building which caught fire was the pressing unit. I work in the next building that has tailoring and designing section while the third building houses the office and store room,” said Prakash, adding that the factory manufactures suits and jeans for children aged between 10 and 14 years.
Atul Garg, Chief fire officer, Delhi Fire Services, said they had rushed two fire tenders. “We got a call at 12.22 pm and and the fire was controlled by 12.40 pm. Our men pulled out four bodies and they were all rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital with the help of the police,” Garg said.
“We are looking into other details. The building will be inspected to find out other details,” Garg said. He said it was a residential building being used for commercial activities and there were no safety equipment.
The fire spread panic among the neighbours. Parmanand, who lives right next to the affected building, said that his wife fainted when she heard of the four deaths. “My wife thought our house is also catching fire. She rushed out of the house, panicked and then fainted,” he said.