The fire broke out at a 350-square metre shoe factory on the first floor of a three-storey building in Narela, Delhi. (Representational image)
Two labourers suffocated to death after a fire broke out at a shoe-making factory in Narela industrial area early Saturday morning. The Delhi Fire Services said they deputed seven fire tenders to the spot, but by the time they managed to enter the building, the two workers had died on the first floor.
Police identified the dead as Vinay (30) and Kuldeep (25), both residents of Uttar Pradesh. Police said they had been working at the factory for the past few months. Their families, police said, don’t live in the capital. The bodies were taken to Raja Harish Chandra Hospital. The post-mortem is awaited as the families have not arrived in the city yet.
The fire call was made at 2.32 am. “We received an ordinary fire call and sent three fire tenders. However, the fire call was upgraded to ‘make-4’, and four more fire tenders were deputed. The fire was doused by 4.15 am,” said a DFS officer.
The fire broke out at a 350-square metre factory on the first floor of a three-storey building. “It did not spread to the other floors. The two workers were asleep when it broke out. The raw material soon caught fire, and the factory was filled with smoke,” the officer said.
The DFS said they are yet to ascertain the cause of the fire and are waiting for Delhi Police to file an arson report. Senior DFS officers said a short circuit may be the reason behind the blaze.
DFS officers said that prima facie, it appears that the factory did not have adequate fire safety provisions. “Even though there may have been fire-fighting equipment, they seldom work. We are trying to find out if the factory had procured a no-objection certificate from us,” the officer said.