At least eleven people were killed and four people were injured in a fire which broke out in a paint factory in outer Delhi's Alipur on Thursday, according to a PTI report. As per the report, the charred bodies of eleven victims were found in the premises of the factory located in Alipur's Dayalpur Market. One of the rescued included a police constable, who got injured during the rescue operations. The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) received a call about the incident at 5:25 pm, soon after 22 fire-tenders were pressed into service, reported PTI.
"The deceased have been moved to Babu Jagjeevan Ram Hospital and the four injured persons have been moved to Raja Harish Chandra Hospital. The deceased persons are yet to be identified," the fire department was quotes as saying by ANI on its official X handle.
Speaking with media, an eyewitness Sumit Bharadwaj stated: "The incident took place at around 5:30 pm. Everyone gathered here after hearing an explosion. We tried a lot to douse the fire. Around 7-8 fire tenders reached here and started the fire fighting operation."
Police said the fire was preceded by a blast, probably caused by chemicals kept in the factory.
As a result of the blast, few houses and shops also caught fire. Some of the injured were residing in those places. The fire was brought under control about 4 hours later at 9 PM, there after the fire personnel began the cooling off period.
The personnel also said that a few people are missing following the incident and the search operation was on. Director of Delhi Fire Services, Atul Garg said that 2 more people are likley trapped under the rubble.
Garg while speaking to ANI said, "At around 5:25 pm, we got a call that a fire broke out in a paint factory. Six fire tenders were sent to the spot. We were able to control the fire in 4 hours but 11 people have lost their lives, all are labourers. Four people have been injured and are admitted to a hospital. NDRF has also reached the spot. Search operation is underway, we suspect 2 more people to be trapped. The exact cause of the fire is not known yet."
Case registered at Alipur Police Station, and teams have been formed to investigate the matter, an officer said, according to PTI.
This comes just two weeks after four people were killed after a fire broke out at a building in the Ram Nagar area of Delhi's Shahdara.
A call was received at 5:22 pm about a blaze in a house in the Shahdara area, fire officials said.
“Five fire tenders were pressed into service and the blaze was doused by 6:55 PM. Rubber material like wipers and a rubber-cutting machine kept in a house on the ground floor of the building had caught fire,” said Delhi Fire Services (DFS) chief Atul Garg.
The building has four floors with a single staircase. Legal action has been initiated against the building owner.