Bodies of two firemen fished out of gutted Narela factory

NEW DELHI: More than 66 hours after they were trapped under debris while trying to rescue labourers from a fire at a factory, the bodies of two firemen were found

NEW DELHI: More than 66 hours after they were trapped under debris while trying to rescue labourers from a fire at a factory, the bodies of two firemen were found on Saturday afternoon.

HT Image

On Wednesday night, fire operator Manjeet Singh, 35, and fireman Sunil Kumar, 40, got trapped while fighting fire at a plastic factory in the Narela Industrial area in outer Delhi.

It was the first case of a fire personnel’s death this year. More than 45 personnel, including those from the national disaster relief force were at the spot since Wednesday night, when the fire was reported.

Till late Saturday night, fire officials were engaged in removing debris, hoping to find a survivor. Fire officers said a labourer is missing.

According to the police, Sunil’s body was found at 3.10 pm while Manjeet was found 15 minutes later. Police suspect the two died due to suffocation.

Kumar had been with the fire department for 18 years and Dagar for 11 years.

Garg said that there was an explosion in the factory caused by a boiler, which led to the wall collapse. “The walls were heated because of the fire. That coupled with the boiler explosion caused the wall to come down. We have not stopped and will continue the rescue operation till we find the last man,” Garg said.