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Fire at Tughlaqabad scrap godown kills one, injures fireman
New Delhi
New Delhi
A 45-year-old man was killed after a fire broke out in a scrap godown in south Delhi’s Tughlaqabad late on Monday night.
The flames also engulfed a three-storey building that was being used as a warehouse to store threads and other raw materials. Police estimated that property worth around Rs 70 crore were gutted in the fire.
A total of 30 fire tenders worked for almost five hours to control the flames and prevent it from spreading. One fireman was also injured during the firefighting operation, the police said.
Delhi fire department chief, Atul Garg, said that the fire control room received a call at 12.40am regarding a fire in a godown at Churiya Mohalla in Tughlaqabad. Initially, 23 fire tenders were sent to the spot.
“Threads and raw materials kept on the first and second floors of the building caught fire. An adjacent scrap godown, which sprawls on 500 square yards, also went up in flames. The charred body of a man was recovered from the scrap godown after the fire was brought under control,” said Garg.
Although the exact cause of the fire could not be ascertained, fire officials suspected that a short-circuit may have triggered the blaze.
Police said that the victim was identified as just Master by six people who also stayed and worked in the same godown. All the occupants of the godown were sleeping when the fire broke out.
A police officer said that the godown was full of plastic and other inflammable scrap items that helped the blaze spread quickly.
As the flames engulfed the adjacent building and continued to spread, residents of nearby houses rushed out and began calling the police and fire department. Some tried to control the fire by throwing water at it from their houses.
An officer said that the cooling operation continued till 10 am on Tuesday.
A case has been registered against the scrap godown owner, the police said.
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