5 killed in fire in Bijnor cracker unit, one held

LUCKNOW Five people, aged between 25 and 40 years, were charred to death when a major fire broke out in a cracker manufacturing unit operational in a house on the outskirts of Bijnor city on Thursday, said Bijnor superintendent of police (SP) Dharam Veer Singh

LUCKNOW Five people, aged between 25 and 40 years, were charred to death when a major fire broke out in a cracker manufacturing unit operational in a house on the outskirts of Bijnor city on Thursday, said Bijnor superintendent of police (SP) Dharam Veer Singh.

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He said unit owner Mohd Yusuf had been arrested after registering an FIR under charges of putting human life into danger and causing death due to negligence at Bijnor city Kotwali. Mohd Yusuf told the police that he had license for cracker manufacturing, but further investigation was on over violation of the license norms and other aspects, he said.

The SP said the deceased were identified Ved Pal, Chintu, Pradeep, Sonu and Brij Pal, all residents of Bakshiwala locality on the outskirts of Bijnor city.

He said the investigation so far had revealed that the fire broke out due to leakage in containers filled with chemical used for cracker manufacturing. He said as many as nine workers were working at the time of the incident and they initially tried to douse the flames but failed due to lack of proper fire extinguishing equipment. He said the workers tried to escape when the flames spread all over the unit but were trapped inside and charred to death. Four workers saved themselves by jumping out of the open window of the house.

He said the bodies were pulled out of the debris when fire tenders doused the flames after four hours and sent for post-mortem examination. He said a team of forensic and fire experts had been called to the spot to ascertain the exact cause behind the fire.

CM orders probe

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered a probe to find out the cause behind the explosion in the cracker factory in Bijnore and had asked the district magistrate and the superintendent of police to provide a joint report, said a statement from his office. Yogi also asked them to provide all necessary help to the affected people and expressed grief over the deaths.