E-Paper
Six minors among nine charred to death in separate incidents
Nine children died in separate fire incidents in the state on Tuesday, said police
Nine children died in separate fire incidents in the state on Tuesday, said police.
In the first incident, six children were cooking inside the house and it caught fire at Kabaiya village under Palasi police station in Araria district. The deceased were identified as five-year-old Asraf and three-year-old Gulnaz (brother and sister), six-year-old Dilwar, four-year-old Barkas, five-year-old Ali Hasan and five-year-old Khush Nihar.
An eyewitness said the incident took place when the children were baking maize corn and the thatched roof of the house caught fire. The fire spread within seconds giving no chance to children to escape.
“We are daily wagers and often go to other areas for work to support our families,” said Yunus whose son and daughter died in the fire.
Araria sub-divisional officer (SDO) Shailesh Chandra Diwakar has directed the block administration officials to prepare the list of the bereaved families. “On the basis of the report, the families will be given ₹4 lakh ex gratia to each victim family.”
Palasi police station SHO Ezaz Hafiz Mani said all the bodies have been sent to Araria district hospital for postmortem.
In another incident, two minor sisters and their brother were charred to death when a hut in which they were sleeping caught fire at Parsurampur village under Pirpaiti police station in Bhagalpur district.
The deceased were identified as Preeti Kumari (8), Naina Kumari (6) and Suraj Kumar (1) all children of Lalmuni Mandal, a migrant labourer.
Police said the hut caught fire after a live wire fell down due to strong wind. The victim’s parents were sleeping in same hut with the three children when the fire broke out. After the blaze died out, the children were taken to the Pirpaiti referral hospital where doctors declared them brought dead.
“The fire had engulfed the hut before anyone could help,” the SSP Nitasa Guriya said.
Police said Mandal and his wife Rita Devi also sustained grievous burn injuries and are stated to be critical.
A case has been registered under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on the direction of the SSP.
Meanwhile, chief minister Nitish Kumar mourned the loss of lives in the two mishaps .
“Deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives. My thoughts and prayers are with the family,” said CM while assuring all possible support to the fire victims. He has announced ex-gratia relief of ₹4 lakh each for the deceased.
