One worker killed in Narela shoe factory fire

A 28 -year-old man was charred to death on Tuesday morning after a massive fire broke out at a footwear manufacturing factory in outer Delhi’s Narela Industrial Area

The charred body of the worker, identified as Babloo Mahto, was recovered from the basement of the factory late in the afternoon, Delhi fire department said.

The is the eighth fire incident in Delhi since the Karol Bagh blaze that killed 17 people.

Chief fire officer Atul Garg said no fire safety arrangements were found in the factory, which he said was running illegally as its owner had not obtained the mandatory safety clearance from them.

Deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Gaurav Sharma said a case of causing fire and death by negligence under Sections 285 and 304A of Indian Penal Code has been registered against the factory owner Ankur Goel.

According to Garg, the fire station received a call regarding blaze in a three-storey factory building around 3.15am. “Since the caller told us that the fire was big, 12 fire tenders, along with over two dozen firefighters, were sent to douse the flames. The presence of footwear and raw material used to make them, helped the flames to spread rapidly,” said Garg.

Another official said that the fire started from the basement and engulfed a major portion of the building. “There were around 15 workers in the factory when the blaze started, apparently because of a short-circuit. The building only has a front entry/ exit with three of its sides being blocked by other factories. This delayed our response and created problems for our fire fighters,” said the officer. Garg said the firemen had to finally break the basement wall of an adjoining factory to reach the burning factory’s basement and douse the flames. The blaze was controlled by late morning, with the cooling process continuing till the evening.

First Published: Feb 20, 2019 09:19 IST