Nine persons, including four children, suffered burn injuries on Sunday when a fire broke out at a jeans factory in east Delhi's Zafrabad area early on Sunday morning. Four of the burn victims are said to be in a serious condition and are receiving treatment at Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital. All the children escaped with minor injuries.
The incident took place at about 5:00 am on Sunday. Four fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was brought under control by about 7 am. However, before that several persons had already been burnt. A short circuit is suspected to have led to the blaze.
The fire was reported from building number 906 at Chauhan Bangar area of Zafrabad. Power was disconnected in the area soon after the blaze was reported.
The fire originated from the first floor of the building that houses a jeans manufacturing unit and soon spread to other parts of the building. “The materials present in the jeans factory helped the flames spread quickly and to the remaining part of the building,” said a police officer.
Most of the victims lived on the second floor of the three-storey building. Locals said that the victims panicked on noticing the fire and rushed downstairs. “If they had rushed to the terrace, they could have been saved,” Raju Kumar, an eyewitness, told Deccan Herald.
“The injured people were sleeping in their rooms and woke up on inhaling the smoke. They began rushing down and by the time they realised that the entire first floor was already engulfed by fire, the blaze had spread even to the second floor. They were burnt because of this factor,” said Kumar.
All the nine injured were rushed to GTB Hospital from where five of them were discharged after first aid.
