Patna: 4 girls jump from fourth floor of building to another to escape getting charred

PATNA: A repeat of Surat fire tragedy was averted in the Bihar capital on Tuesday morning after at least four girls saved their lives by jumping from the balcony of one building on the fourth floor to another building in front, after a major fire broke out on the second floor of the first building in which they were living.
The incident took place inside Paras compound located just beside PN Anglo Sanskrit School under Kadamkuan police station.
The fire had broken out on the second floor of the four-storey (G+4) residential building named Balaji Niwas which was being used for storage of chemicals, plastic and paper items used for laboratories in schools and pathological tests, resulting into billowing of thick black smokes.
Two of the girls who jumped to safety were identified as Pallavi Bharti from Nalanda and Vandana Kumari from Samastipur who were preparing for competitive examination by residing in Patna.

Another person identified as Parmanand Singh (61), suffering from paralysis, who was left behind on third floor, was rescued from burning inferno by fire fighters after they reached at spot.
The building is owned by one Manoj Kumar who lives with his family on the first floor but had gone on vacation a week back. The ground floor has two shops while the third floor was rented to a family. The fourth and top floor of the building was being used a hostel in which at least four girls resided.
One of the eyewitnesses Soni Kumari told TOI that an iron ladder was placed between the two buildings in front of each other through which the girl screaming and crying in fear, were brought to safety by locals.
Six fire tenders, including four from Lodipur and two from Kankarbagh fire station, were rushed to the spot for dousing flames and rescue work.
Lodipur fire officer Ramashankar Thakur said fire tenders were deployed in full capacity, but flames continued to increase.
“Later, we came to know that chemicals were stored inside the building due to which water jets were becoming ineffective. Immediately, we poured chemicals in fire tenders for discharging foam only after which the fire was brought under control,” Thakur said.
He said people had left behind a paralyzed senior citizen on the third floor. “After fire fighters entered inside building, they found him choking in thick smokes. He was brought down and rushed to a hospital,” the fire officer said.
He said the residential building was illegally used for storage of chemicals and other items, jeopardising lives of occupants.
“Technically, an FIR must be lodged against building owner but situation is that every second residential building in the area has same condition and we are overburdened with work,” Thakur said in reply to a query.