Two die in Sadar Bazar building blaze, 6 others rescued

Rescuers recovered two charred bodies from a tin shed structure on the fifth floor. Police said both the deceased and the rescued were migrant workers and staying on the fifth floor of the building.

NEW DELHI: Two people died in a fire that broke out in a multistorey commercial building hosting shops selling plastic toys in Delhi’s Sadar Bazar area on Wednesday evening, police said on Thursday.

Initial information suggested that seven to eight people were trapped inside the building, police said.

The deceased were identified as Durkheli Sharma, 60, and Rampravesh Ray, 46. Their bodies were shifted to the Subzi Mandi mortuary for postmortem examination.

According to police, the fire occurred around 4.30pm near Bara Tooti Chowk on Bahadurgarh Road during Holi festivities.

“The fire department was alerted, and multiple PCR calls regarding the incident were received,” an officer, aware of the matter, said, adding that 24 fire tenders were pressed into service.

“Initial information suggested that seven to eight people were trapped inside the building,” the officer said.

Due to the intense fire and thick smoke, the building was accessed through an adjacent structure and a nearby mosque and six people trapped inside were safely rescued. They were identified as Mithlesh Yadav, 38, Mukesh Shah, 32, Santosh, 20, Rajan, 25, Suresh Kapdi, 57 and Sanjay, 35.

During the search operations, rescuers recovered two charred bodies from a tin shed structure on the fifth floor of the building. Police said both the deceased and the rescued were migrant workers and staying on the fifth floor of the building.

A forensic team is yet to determine the exact cause of the fire, police said, adding that a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered and a probe is underway.