20230402 Medahalli fire: 8th worker succumbs to burn injuries
India Apr 02 2023 “Building” “Houses”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 1 to 9
Medahalli fire: 8th worker succumbs to burn injuries
Updated: 2023-04-02
BENGALURU: All eight daily-wage workers who suffered burns in a fire accident in their tiny shed at Medahalli in Hosakote on March 26 have succumbed over the past few days. The eighth victim died on Saturday afternoon.
Police have arrested their contractor, Aravind Gupta, after booking him under IPC section 304A (causing death due to negligence). A manhunt is on for the building owner, Bhaskar, who has also been booked under the same section.
On Saturday, doctors declared Nikun Ansari dead from burn injuries. During the previous days, the other workers – Neeraj Bharati, Tilak Ram, Sanoj Sharma, Amit Kumar Mandal, Laxman, Sumaya Gupta, and Chandra Pal – had passed away. All the victims were in their mid-30s and hailed from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. They were residing in a 15×10 room where they cooked and slept at night. They paid a monthly rent of Rs 3,000, police said.
LPG leak caused fire
On March 26 night, there was an accidental fire following gas leakage. All eight men were shifted in critical condition to the burns ward of Victoria Hospital in the wee hours of March 27.
Forensic Science Laboratory experts, who inspected the crime scene, told cops that a dilapidated LPG gas pipe could have been the root cause of the gas leakage that led to the explosion. “The gas pipe had many breaks in its folds and surely, the gas had leaked from these. At night, someone might have switched on the light or ignited a matchstick to turn on the stove or to light a cigarette. A steel vessel with milk was on the stove,” an investigating officer said quoting FSL experts.
Bengaluru Rural SP Mallikarjun Baladandi told STOI many contractors fail to provide basic amenities to their workers. “This is the saddest incident reported in the recent past. These innocent workers, leaving their families back in their hometowns, had come to earn a livelihood here and have now met with their death for someone else’s mistake. Contractors should ensure minimum safety in the house or room they allocate to workers. Similarly, the building owners. The room in which the incident took place lacked proper ventilation,” the officer said.
On the day of the incident, police managed to shift all the victims in a couple of ambulances. “We were alerted by the public by midnight and rushed to the spot. Seeing the condition of the injured ones, we decided to shift them to Victoria Hospital. Fortunately, we got the ambulances in time and owing to less traffic on the road, the injured were quickly shifted to the burns ward. Unfortunately, none of them survived,” a cop said.
Web Source: The Times of India