120601 India Sadar Bazar slum fire leaves 2,000 homeless
India Jun 01 2012 “Building” “Houses”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Sadar Bazar slum fire leaves 2,000 homeless
Updated: 2012-06-02
NEW DELHI: Around 400 slum sheds burned down in the Lahori Gate-Sadar Bazar area of north Delhi early on Friday morning. Although only seven cases of minor injury were reported, more than 2,000 people were left homeless. Officials said the fire raged for four hours, turning the slum into smoking heaps of ash.
The fire department was informed at 1.07am, and 25 fire engines battled the blaze until 5am. While a formal investigation will be made into the cause of the fire, officials suspect it started from a short circuit. A witness said the fire spread rapidly because inflammable material was kept in the sheds.
“I heard people screaming and peeped out. It was a horrific sight. Sky-high flames were sweeping towards my hut. I picked up both my children, cried out to wake up my wife and ran. My hut was lost in two minutes,” said Mukesh, a resident of the area.
Police said the residents had a miraculous escape as everyone was asleep when the fire started. “Although the blaze started around 1am, when everyone was asleep, the residents were able to get up and out in time,” said a cop on duty. But the hundreds of newly homeless spent the hot hours anxiously sifting the ashes for their belongings.
Slowed down by age, Gopesh Dev, 80, got burnt on his hands and back before he could escape. “I have nowhere to go,” he told TOI even as volunteers tried to put together a shelter for the poor victims.
“We have arranged for plastic sheets, water and food for the victims, most of whom are rag pickers or railway labour,” said Nirmala Devi, the local councillor.
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Web Source: The Times of India
Date: 1 June, 2012
Country: India