20230620 Narrow escape for Ludhiana garment factory workers as major fire breaks out
India Jun 20 2023 “Apartment houses” “Building”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Narrow escape for Ludhiana garment factory workers as major fire breaks out
Updated: 2023-06-20
LUDHIANA: Panic prevailed among the residents of Laxmi Nagar area in Punjab’s district headquarters town of Ludhiana after a sudden fire broke out at a garment factory on Tuesday afternoon. Factory workers — who had to jump from the factory building to the roofs of adjoining houses — had a narrow escape.
Around 20 workers saved their lives like this.
Located in a thickly populated area, this factory had a huge stock of garments inside which was gutted in the fire.
The fire took place at 2.45pm when the work was going on.
The fire had started from the first floor of the building with smoke coming out.
Before the workers could understand anything, flames started coming out of the first floor and soon the fire spread to other floors.
The fire brigade was informed at 3.03pm about the fire incident.
Eyewitness Harinandan, who resides in a migrant quarter nearby, said, “I heard people crying for help and when I came out I saw workers at the terrace who wanted to save their lives as the factory had caught fire. I put a ladder from an adjoining house but till then some of them had already jumped out of fear and three people also received injuries.”
He said the workers with the help of clothes tied like ropes could reach the adjoining building while some female staffers were also working at the ground floor and they had managed to come out from the main gate.
Harinandan said that the building had developed cracks and even his quarter was having cracks.
Sub fire officer Aatish Rai said, “The fire was brought under control at 6.30pm with the help of six fire tenders which made 10 rounds.”
Regarding the reason behind the fire, he said it is “yet to be ascertained”.
The fire fighters meanwhile claimed that there was no direct access to the factory, so first they tried to control it from outside and also broke the sidewalk of the unit so that water could reach the flames.
“The black smoke created difficulties in controlling the situation and there was no fire safety arrangement in the unit.”
Web Source: The Times of India