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16 of 28 charred bodies found in a corner in Rajkot gaming zone: NDRF official
Inside the gaming zone, the management had multiple steel structures where different gaming activities were set up within the complex.
Among the 28 who died in the blaze at the Rajkot gaming arcade, the charred bodies of at least 16 people were found in a corner of the gaming zone next to a burnt steel structure covered in foam sheets, according to officials of the National Disaster Response Force and Gujarat fire department who visited the spot.
Inside the gaming zone, the management had multiple steel structures where different gaming activities were set up within the complex. “The gaming zone was built on an open field with tin sheets as partitions. Inside, there were different zones, each built on a steel structure with foam sheets covering it. Throughout the gaming zone, such steel structures were set up and plywood was used as partitions. Both foam sheets and plywood caught fire quickly. The 16 burnt bodies were found near one such steel structure,” a Rajkot fire officer said, declining to be named.
It is also these steel structures on the first floor that collapsed, which may have trapped the people inside, officials said. The possible place where the fire started was right next to the kart racing track where the management had stored diesel. This worsened the blaze.
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“The gaming zone was centrally air conditioned. There were no large windows, which could have been broken for the fumes to be let out. There was a lot of interior decoration with flammable substances in the gaming zone,” said Ilesh Kher, Rajkot’s chief fire officer, explaining why the fire spread so quickly.
“This immediately caught fire, which may have spread to foam sheets, and the cushions used in the jumping mattress sections of the kids helped the fire spread quickly,” he added. “Some who fled kicked open the tin sheets to come out.”
There was only one entry and exit point in the arcade, Kher said. There were no windows but tin sheds that were placed as partitions even outside. “One such temporary steel structure had collapsed at this lone gate. The gate got blocked,” he said. “This may have trapped the people inside.”
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A team of NDRF personnel from Gujarat’s Vadodara office was roped in to trace if anyone was trapped in the complex. NDRF officials who visited the spot said diesel, which was kept throughout the gaming zone, too, caused the fire to spread rapidly.
“There were nearly 200 people who managed to escape. It is unclear at which point the steel structure gave away and blocked the exit gate. There was a large stock of diesel next to generators and the toy car rides within the zone. Even the steel structures that separated the different activities inside the complex were decorated with flammable material to attract children,” an officer who supervised the NDRF team said, seeking anonymity.
“It was a combination of factors that may have led to so many deaths -- the heat outside, the fire spreading rapidly because of the flammable materials and foam sheets, people trapped on the first floor because the steel structures gave away,” he added. “This is also why all the dead sustained burn injuries. The deaths were not because of suffocation.”
