Fire at Noida slum kills two, including newborn, four injured

Noida: A major fire broke out at a home in a temporary settlement in Sector 8, killing a 12-year-old boy and a newborn baby girl, said fire officials on Sunday

Noida: A major fire broke out at a home in a temporary settlement in Sector 8, killing a 12-year-old boy and a newborn baby girl, said fire officials on Sunday. The fire broke out at around 2.52am in a paved slum, they added.

Noida, India- February 12, 2023: Fire broke out late night in a slum area in Sector 8 due to cylinder explosion, 8-year-old boy and 12-day-old girl death in the accident, 4 other family members were sent to Delhi Safdarjung for treatment, in Noida, India, on Sunday, February 12, 2023. (Photo by Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times)

According to Gautam Budh Nagar chief fire officer Pradeep Kumar Chaubey, information about the fire was received at the Phase -1 fire station at 2.52am itself.

“Information was received about the fire incident at a 6 by 6 feet room in the paved slum. By 2.56 am, two fire tenders reached the spot though only one was used to douse the fire. Six members of the family were rescued from inside the home of which two children, one boy aged 12 years old and one baby girl who was 12 days old were found dead while other four members of the family were immediately rushed to the District Hospital in Sector 30 from where they were referred to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi,” said Chaubey, adding that the fire was completely extinguished by the fire tenders and was limited to only one home in the slum.

The victims have been identified as Rizwan (32), Shabana (30), Shabana’s niece Nisha (20), and Rizwan’s son Armaan (8). The deceased have been identified as Ahad (12), and the newborn baby girl aged 12 days. Rizwan works as a daily wage labourer while Shabana works as a house help in nearby sectors, police said.

Jahid, one of the eye witnesses of the fire and a neighbour, said, “I was sleeping when the fire started and my sister woke me up, saying that she heard a loud blast. When I went outside my home, I saw Rizwan’s home, in the street opposite to my home, burning. I immediately rushed there and broke open the door. All six members of their family had caught fire and along with other local residents, I fetched water and sand to douse the flames”.

An inspection of the spot found that the fire broke out due to a cylinder blast, said Chaubey.

“Prima facie, the cause of the fire seems to be due to a leakage in the gas cylinder and consequently it exploded at night. The cylinder was found burst with a fisheye hole opening, consistent with a cylinder blast evidence. Further, the whole room had been charred due to the explosion. It seems that the mother of the child had woken up at night to warm some milk on the stove and since the cylinder was leaking, it exploded as soon as the flame was lit for the stove. A loud blast was also heard by the neighbours,” Chaubey added.

Meanwhile, local residents alleged that the fire tenders reached the spot after one hour.

“We called up the police around 2am when we saw the fire burning the house. However, nobody came to the spot. We called up the fire station as well but nobody turned up. Later, I went to the Phase 1 fire station on a bike to call the fire tenders on the spot and even after that it took 15 minutes for them to reach here,” said a local resident.

However, the chief fire officer refuted the allegations and said, “The fire station is barely five minutes away from the Sector 8 slum. Within 4 minutes of receiving the information, two fire tenders had reached the spot”.