Major slum fire kills handicapped woman

A major fire broke out in the cluster of huts at an under construction site in the sprawling Indralok area of Mira Road on Tuesday morning.

A physically challenged woman was charred to death and at least half a dozen makeshift huts were reduced to ashes rendering the construction workers homeless.

The incident was reported at an under-construction site near the municipal ground at around 9:45 am.

While all adult occupants were out for work, four kids who were present in their homes managed to rush out safely just in time.

However, the physically challenged woman, identified as Krishna Das (36), could not run to save her life when the fire broke out.

As the shanties had plastic covers all around, the fire spread fast. Also, the fire which was apparently sparked to an electric short circuit led to the blasts of cooking gas cylinders in the huts caused it to flare up.

It took more than two hours for the fire brigade personnel to contain the blaze which leapt swiftly from one hut to another.

As common in slum clusters, some occupants of this hutment had illegally procured LPG cylinders at home. Alarmed by such incidents, the police and fire brigade personnel have now rolled up their sleeves to identify and take action against those involved in the illegal supply of illegal cylinders.