20230512 4 labourers dead in fire at Bareilly foam factory
India May 12 2023 “Building” “Factories”
Dead : dead 1 to 4 Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
4 labourers dead in fire at Bareilly foam factory
Updated: 2023-05-12
BAREILLY: Four labourers were charred to death and six others suffered burn injuries after a massive fire broke out at a factory belonging to Ashoka Foam Private Limited, near the Delhi-Lucknow national highway in Jerh village of UP’s Bareilly on Wednesday night, officials said. Over 100 workers were present inside the building when the fire broke out.Five people, including the firm’s owner, have been booked, and their arrest is likely as the charges are non-bailable.
Additional SP (rural) Rajkumar Agarwal told TOI, “We have registered a case against factory owners Ashok Goyal and his nephew Neeraj Goyal, manager Ajay Saxena and a few unidentified persons under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder.”
The deceased were identified as Arvind Mishra (22), Rakesh Kumar (34), Anoop Kumar (25), and Akhilesh Shukla (26). The bodies were sent for post-mortem. Many injured people have been admitted to a private hospital and are stable.
“The fire broke out around 7 pm and we received a distress call soon after. Several fire tenders rushed to the spot and doused the flames by 11 pm. A rescue operation was carried out till midnight and recovered four charred bodies. The rescue work started again on Thursday morning. We are trying to find out the cause of the fire,” said chief fire officer Chandramohan Sharma on Thursday.
“After getting information, SSP Prabhakar Chaudhary, district magistrate Shivakant Dwivedi, and other senior officials rushed to the spot and gave necessary directions. Ashoka Foam has multiple units in the district and we have sent notice to the management. A thorough investigation into the incident will be carried out,” Sharma added.
Agitated villagers on Thursday morning blocked the highway demanding action against the factory owners. Police pacified the locals and assured them of adequate compensation to the victims’ families by the factory.
Notably, Ashoka Foam has witnessed several fire accidents in the past. Since 2019, three fire incidents have been reported in the firm’s unit.
In 2016, a management student, Dharmendra Yadav, died at the same unit after a fire broke out. In 2019, a few labourers suffered burn injuries in a similar incident at this unit.
Web Source: The Times of India