A daily labourer was charred to death after a fire hit the daily market at Bhawanipatna town on Saturday morning. The body of the deceased, identified as Sriman Naik, was recovered by fire brigade personnel. The fire brigade took more than two hours to douse the blaze.
Preliminary reports said a compressor of a deep freezer kept in a godown burst, leading to the fire which again led to explosion of an lPG cylinder used for cooking that was kept in a shop adjacent to the godown. This contributed to the blaze that spread fast.
Sources said the worker who was inside the godown could not come out as fire and smoke engulfed the entire area. By the time he was rescued, his body was badly burnt. He was rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital where he was declared brought dead.In another incident, six houses were burnt on Friday night in Brahmhagiri of Puri district due to a fire accident.
Similarly, Puruna Cuttack of Boudh district witnessed a fire mishap on Friday night burning down at least 40 houses which rendered 25 families homeless. local BDO and Tehsildar rushed to the spot to assess the losses.