Jammu: In a tragic accident, four person including a woman and child were charred to death and at least 13, mostly non-local laborers, suffered injuries after a massive fire broke out inside a scrap shop with some shanties in the vicinity near Jammu’s busy Residency Road.
According to locals of the area, around 6.30 the fire broke in and three persons were charred alive while several persons were rescued in injured condition by the locals who rushed to the area as soon as flames started to emerge.
A spokesman of Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu said that in Residency Road fire incident four persons brought dead to the hospital which includes one lady, one child and two males.
“All the dead bodies shifted to mortuary room for postmortem and identification,” he said.
He added that other 13 with burn injuries were admitted in GMC.
The injured identified as Marjeema Khatoon (23) resident of Assam, Anwar Hussain (53) resident of Assam, Momina Khatoon (25), Menar-ul-Hussain son of Mehju Din (3.5 yrs), baby (7), Asrar-ul-Islam (19) son of Anwar Hussain.
Anku Ram Alias Antu son of Krishan Lal resident of Gole Gujral, Pappu so of Babu Lal resident of Bihar, Nilma 35, Mehju Din (25) son of Anwar Hussain, Sukitam wife (24) of Zehrulla Islam, Semirinisa (30) wife of Ishub and Suzu Bano (4)
In a statement issued on Monday the Senior Superintendent of Police Jammu Chandan Kohli said that fire broke out in a scrap shop located in the Residency road area of Jammu this evening.
“Short circuit in electricity wiring is suspected to be the cause of fire breakout in initial state. In the incident, fire flames engulfed the entire building and some LPG cylinders lying inside also exploded,” he said.
“15 person sustained injuries in the incident who all have been evacuated from the site with hectic efforts of police, fire and emergency services assisted by locals and all injured are under treatment in local hospital.
Unfortunately, three people have so far lost their lives in this tragic incident.
The SSP further added that rescue operations are going on.
The area where the ablaze took place is situated in narrow lanes and streets and surrounding by mostly gowdons.
The eyewitness has said that the fire tenders found it difficult to reach the main portion of the building where fire took place as there was no space to manoeuvre around the structure.
This prevents them from swiftly dousing fires, which soon entered into the nearby shanties. The bust road and narrow streets also affected the rescuing people of the city. Meanwhile, J&K LG Manoj Sinha announced an ex-gratia of Rs.5 Lakh each to be given to the families of the deceased in Jammu LPG Cylinder blast incident. “Ex gratia of Rs.1 Lakh to be given to the seriously injured and Rs.25,000 to those with minor injuries,” the LG Office tweeted
