Two children, aged three and four, died and a 28-year-old man was injured in a massive fire at the Bengali Basti slum cluster in Rohini Sector 17 on Sunday morning. The fire, which started around 11.30am, gutted at least 200 hutments and rendered over 600 residents homeless, according to the fire department and police officers.
Around 100 firefighters and 26 fire tenders were deployed for the firefighting operation, which went on for three hours, officials said. The fire was brought under control by 2pm but cooling operations continued till late evening. The deceased were identified as Sadia Khatoon,3, and Alam Sheikh, 4.
Officials said that the fire, the cause of which is yet to be ascertained, caused LPG cylinders to burst, due to which it spread rapidly. The fire also engulfed gas supply pipelines — supply was suspended briefly — but there was no significant damage to the pipelines, Delhi Fire Services (DFS) divisional officer (DO, Rohini) Sandeep Duggal said.
DFS chief Atul Garg said they received the call about the fire at 11.55am. “Since the fire was in hutments made of inflammable items, it spread quickly. Several of them were gutted in the fire. Locals told the firemen that there were around 800 shanties were set up in a five-acre area,” Garg said.
“The fire was brought under control by 2pm, after which a search operation was carried out. Two fully charred children were found from different shanties. They were rushed to a nearby hospital, where they were declared dead. Locals claimed that at least two more people were trapped in the gutted jhuggis. Our firemen continued the search operation, but no more injured people or bodies were found. The searches stopped around 3.30pm,” Garg said.
Deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) Amit Goel said that around 10 concrete houses located at one corner, towards Shahabad Daulatpur village remained intact. Personnel from the KN Katju Marg police station, fire tenders, and ambulances were deployed at the spot, he said. “Two children, aged 3 and 4, died in the fire. One resident, identified as Shabul Sheikh,28, suffered injuries but survived. The cause of the fire is being ascertained,” he said.
Residents’ account
The slum cluster is home to migrant workers from West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, a majority of whom earn their livelihood by working as domestic helps, collecting and selling garbage, manual labour in factories, and driving e-rickshaws and cycle-rickshaws.
The family of the deceased children said their shanties were located close by. Mitthu Sheikh, 38, father of Alam, said he and his wife Saima Sheikh, 35, went to work, leaving behind their four children. Mitthu works as a sweeper at a banquet hall in Barwala and Saima as a domestic help in Vijay Vihar.
“My eldest child, who is 19 and married, was at home with her three siblings. When the fire broke out, Shamila quickly ran out with my two sons Chand Sheikh,16, and Lal Sheikh,13. By the time they realised Alam was sleeping and was trapped, it was too late. Later, the firemen took out his badly charred body. My son had slept watching my mobile phone, which was on the bed next to him,” said Mitthu Sheikh, who came from Jharkhand’s Pakur district.
He said he saw bodies of pets, such as cats, and poultry animals after the fire.
Twenty-seven-year-old Shamim Shah, father of Sadia Khatoon, said he was home and had gone to a shop in the vicinity, leaving behind his five-year-old son Ashiq Shah at home. “I bought a juice and a packet of chips for my daughter and was returning home when I saw fire and smoke in our neighbourhood. I asked my daughter to wait and rushed to my jhuggi to rescue my son. When I was returning with Ashiq, my daughter was frightened by the blaze and smoke, and she ran inside a neighbour’s house that was engulfed in fire by the time I could rescue her,” said Shah, who came to the Capital from West Bengal.
Residents said that the fire claimed all their savings, ornaments, jewellery, clothes and important documents, such as government IDs. “We are left with nothing. The only thing we have for now are the clothes we are wearing. We don’t know how we will survive. Our children are crying for milk and food, but we are helpless,” Shah said.
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