With the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday directing the chief secretary to form a special team to take stern action against officials whose negligence led to fire incident in a hotel in Hazratganj area of Lucknow leading to death of four guests, in yet another similar incident, fire broke out at a hotel in Vrindavan on Thursday in which two of its employees were killed and as many injured, police said.
The fire started in the early hours of the day while the employees were asleep, Station House Officer of Vrindavan, Suraj Sharma, said.
Although most of the employees managed to escape the fire, two got trapped, he said.
Among the two injured, the condition of one was stated to be serious and he was rushed to Agra for better treatment, the SHO said.
Three fire tenders doused the flames in the three-storey hotel. All the 25 rooms of the hotel were occupied at the time.
According to Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Martand Prakash Singh, Hotel Vrindavan Garden has two parts. Tourists stay in one part of the hotel, while the other part houses its restaurant, pantry and store room. The fire broke out in the store room, where curtains, bed sheets, pillow covers, laundry items and files among others were kept.
The ASP (City) said the exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, but it appeared to have been caused by an electrical short-circuit or a lit cigarette.
“The fire reportedly broke out around 4:30 am in the kitchen store room on the top floor of Hotel Vrindavan Garden situated on Mathura-Vrindavan road. Two ambulances and two fire tenders were rushed to the site of the fire. The fire was brought under control after a one and half hour long struggle by the fire department," Chief Fire Officer of Mathura, Pramod Sharma, said, adding that there were around 100 guests in the hotel and all of them were evacuated.
According to Chief Medical Officer Dr Bhudev Singh, asphyxiation and body burns are suspected to have caused the two deaths.
As per sources, the hotel does not have a no objection certificate (NOC) from the Fire department. The Fire department has also, as per the sources, served a notice to the hotel in this regard.
The employees who died were identified as Bhuri and Mahesh.
A case was registered and the bodies were sent for autopsy. Further investigations are on in the matter.