At least 13 persons were killed and more than a dozen injured in a factory fire in Uttar Pradesh’s Sahibabad area of Ghaziabad.
The workers were sleeping in the cramped leather factory, which was in a residential building on the edge of New Delhi, when the blaze broke out, likely caused by a short circuit.
“The fire broke out at a factory in a residential area of Sahibabad around 4:30 am in the morning. 13 people, who were sleeping there have died and another two or three people are getting treated at the hospital,” said Bhagwat Singh.
The police said the sudden blaze within the closed confines of the facility on a narrow lane of a densely populated area, caught at least 40 workers by surprise who were reportedly inside.
As the workers tried to flee, the narrow passage at the entrance blocked their escape. Though some did succeeded in fleeing the conflagration, about 20 workers could not get out.
The injured were taken to nearby hospitals and GTB hospital in northeast Delhi.
Abul Abbas Hussain, Sahibabad Fire Station officer said, “The fire department received a call at 5.20 a.m. The call signalled a major fire. Acting on the information, in the first phase six fire tenders were sent to the spot. Thirteen people died in the incident,” he said.
“The road is barely 9-10 metres wide and is crowded with material and parked vehicles. Still, we put up a ladder and rescued the trapped workers,” chief fire officer Akshay Ranjan Sharma said.
“My plot is residential but I rented it out to a man to run a stitching unit. He had employed labourers who lived there,” owner Babu said. He didn’t have the details of the owner. Garment units are notorious for poor work conditions, flouting norms and underpaying staff. Most of the units in the Ghaziabad locality manufactured jackets.
Fire tenders and Police rushed at the spot. Death toll is expected to rise. Several people have been left critically injured in the deadly fire. They have been rushed to the nearby hospital.
