Over 100 huts destroyed in fire behind hospital

More than a hundred hutments were burnt down to ashes in a massive fire that erupted at a slum cluster behind a government hospital in north Delhi on Friday morning, Delhi Fire Service (DFS) officials said. HT reports.

More than a hundred hutments were burnt down to ashes in a massive fire that erupted at a slum cluster behind a government hospital in north Delhi on Friday morning, Delhi Fire Service (DFS) officials said.

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No casualties were reported.

The blaze was reported from a slum cluster located behind the GB Pant hospital on Mata Sundari Road around 9:15 am. At least 30 fire tenders that were pressed into service struggled for two hours to control the blaze.

"The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. While between 100 and 150 hutments are suspected to have been destroyed, fortunately, no casualties were reported," said a senior DFS official.

According to police, several teams were rushed to the area, which houses several small scrapyards and hutments, constructed predominantly of plastic-based material, to assist their counterparts from the DFS.

DFS officials suspect that a small fire, made to burn garbage at a location inside the slum cluster, could have been the reason behind the fire. But investigations to ascertain the precise trigger were still under way.

"Given its proximity to two government hospitals — the Lok Nayak and GB Pant — we rushed 30 tenders to the spot as a precautionary measure. More than five dozen officials had to work till 11:30 to bring the blaze under control and finally quell it," the official said.