3 Kids Among 14 Dead In Jharkhand Apartment Fire, PM Modi Announces Rs 2 Lakh Ex Gratia

Jharkhand Fire: Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed pain over the loss of lives in the fire in a Dhanbad apartment and announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased.

Jharkhand Fire: 14 dead, police team deployed outside apartment, PM Modi expresses grief

Source : PTI

New Delhi: Police personnel have been deployed outside Dhanbad's Ashirwad Tower Apartment in Jharkhand where a massive fire claimed the lives of 14 people including three kids on Tuesday. Around 12 were injured in the incident.

Visuals from the site show the police team outside the apartment.

Jharkhand | Police personnel deployed outside Dhanbad's Ashirwad Tower Apartment where a massive fire broke out yesterday due to which 14 people lost their lives & 12 were injured. Visuals from the site of the incident pic.twitter.com/wIv4lgwMKD

— ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2023

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed grief over the loss of lives and said, "Deeply anguished by the loss of lives due to a fire in Dhanbad. My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon."

The PM also announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) to the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 to those injured.

An ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased in the fire in Dhanbad. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) January 31, 2023

One of the injured told ANI, "We were getting ready for my niece's wedding when we saw smoke entering the room. My brother-in-law told us that a fire has broken out. We were on the fourth floor and tried to go downstairs but felt suffocated due to the smoke so we went to the terrace. Police came and rescued us."

Dhanbad's Shakti temple was near where the fire started in an apartment in Ashirwad Tower. The flames could be seen from a distance as the fire quickly spread. To put out the fire, fire tenders rushed to the area.

The officials stated that the fire broke out at 6 p.m. on the second floor of Ashirwad Tower in the Joraphatak neighborhood of Dhanbad, about 160 kilometers from the state capital Ranchi.

According to the officials, approximately forty fire tenders were put into use to extinguish the flames. According to Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh, the fire's precise cause has not yet been determined.

The district administration is working on an emergency basis, according to Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and the injured are receiving treatment.

"The district administration is working on a war footing and treatment is being provided to those injured in the accident," the CM said in a tweet.