Two children were burnt alive while 15 persons suffered severe burns in a major fire that broke out in a slum at Bawana on Friday afternoon. More than 500 shanties were gutted. The angry residents clashed with the police and fire officials claiming they reached at the spot late by an hour. Four fire officials suffered injuries after they were thrashed by the mob.
Fire officials said that they received a call around 2 pm while the fire broke out at 1.30 pm. The deceased children were identified as Sartaj, 5, and Manish, 4.
“We sent around 25 fire engines after we got the call. The fire engines took three hours to extinguish the fire. The injured were rushed to Mahirishi Valmiki Hospital where Sartaj and Manish were declared brought dead while fifteen others were hospitalised and are undergoing treatment. Four fire officials were injured after they were beaten up by locals, they did not suffer burns,” said the fire official.
The official said that the cause for the fire was yet to be ascertained.
Usha, the mother of deceased Manish, said that she had gone to work and Manish was at home with his grandmother. His grandmother had gone out and he was brunt alive, she said. The father of another deceased Sartaj had gone to offer prayers at a mosque leaving him behind in the hutment. When he returned home, he came to know that his son was charred to death.
Meanwhile, a semi-nude body of a woman with her face burnt was found near railway tracks in Samaypur Badli on Friday evening. A police source said that it is suspected that the woman might have been raped before murder. The body bore marks of multiple injuries.
The police has sent the body to Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital for the post-mortem examination to be conducted.
“Nothing was found on her to establish her identification. Her murderer might have been known to her who tried to burn her face with acid to conceal her identity,” said a police official.
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