Two children were charred to death in a fire broke out in Bawana slum area on Friday afternoon. The blaze was reported in Bawana slum area in the afternoon and soon it engulfed the entire hutments, killing two five-year-old boys. Around 500 shanties were also gutted in fire and injuring six others. Three animals were died in the incident.
Subsequent to the incident, armed with stones and sticks, a mob attacked fire officials for delaying the rescue operation and two fire tenders were vandalised by them. Four fire service officials were also assaulted and now they have been admitted at Maharishi Valmiki Hospital where their condition is stated to be stable. The reason of the fire is still not known.
According to the Fire official department, the fire broke out around 1.15 am and spread within 10 minutes due to the high velocity wind across the 800 odd slum dwelling, situated in F-block in Bawana where mostly daily wage labourers lived, who work in factories.
“The PCR call was made around 1.35 pm and immediately eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the fire but later, it was declared a medium category fire, then 12 more fire tenders were sent in from Bawana, Rohini, Bhorgarh and Narela,” the officer added.
It took almost two and half hour to douse the fire completely. “Many locals trapped in fire were rescued by the fire officials. All the injured were rushed to Maharishi Valmiki hospital nearby where two children were identified as Sartaj (5) and Manish (4), were declared brought dead and six others were injured. Five persons were discharged after the first-aid treatment, while one 48-year-old man, Mohammed Siraj was shifted to lok Nayak hospital with 40 per cent burn injuries where his condition is said to be critical,” the officer added.
The dwelling has been around for almost six years and they were re-located on a temporary basis in the area from the Yamuna Pushta area during the Common Wealth Games.
local residents claimed that their houses had been destroyed because the Fire department reached late and they came out in the streets and began stone pelting. “Four fire service officials were injured in the attack. They have been admitted to hospital and their condition is stated to be stable. Two fire tenders were also vandalised by the mob,” the officer added.
Prima facie, it seemed that fire broke out due to cylinder blast. However, they are still trying to ascertain the exact cause of fire. “The fire was spread because of large amounts of combustible material lying about. There are loose electric wires since most of the residents have tapped electricity illegally,” the officer added.