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12-year-old boy dies, seven family members injured in Rohru fire
In another incident, a fire broke out in a timber depot and spread to the adjoining multi-storeyed building in Kumarsein sub division
A 12-year boy was killed and eight others injured in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla and Kullu districts where three fire incidents were reported on Wednesday.
Director of state disaster management authority (SDMA) Sudesh Kumar Mokhta said a family was trapped in a house after it caught fire due to a short-circuit in Todsa village of Jangla sub-tehsil in Rohru subdivision of Shimla.
Eight members of the family were injured in the fire, who were rescued by locals.
Among them was a 12-year-old boy identified as Pawan, son of Deepak Lal, who succumbed to his burn injuries on the way to the hospital, Mokhta said.
Rohru sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Sunny Sharma said the injured were undergoing treatment and had been given immediate relief.
Fire destroys timber depot
The second incident was reported from Bithal in Kumarsain subdivision, 90km from Shimla, where the fire broke out in a timber depot in the morning.
Though there was no casualty, the blaze destroyed the stock of timber and spread to the adjoining multi-storeyed building, Mokhta said.
Fire tenders were rushed from Kumarsain and Rampur to control the fire that was first noticed around 5.30am.
Personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force and National Disaster Response Force were deputed to douse the flames. They joined the 15 Himachal Pradesh Police personnel engaged in the firefighting operation.
“So far, no loss of human life has been reported and efforts are still on to bring the fire under control,” said Shimla superintendent of police Sanjeev Gandhi.
Local residents and passers-by on the highway assisted the firefighters.
Resort gutted in Kullu’s Banjar
Ten rooms of a resort at Ghiyagi in the Banjar subdivision of Kullu district were gutted in a major fire which broke out shortly after midnight.
The fire department in-charge, Lekh Raj, said they received the information about the blaze in Nature Lap resort around 12.25am. He said the resort was a wooden structure made in traditional Khat-Kuni architecture and belonged to Iqbal Kaur of Delhi, who had leased it to Satpal, a resident of Gopalpur village of Sarkaghat subdivision in Mandi district.
He said the cook of the resort suffered minor burn injuries in the fire and the losses were being assessed.
