Jammu- Four people, including a child, were killed and 15 others injured after a massive fire broke out in a building, police said. The death toll may increase further as the rescue operation is still underway, officials said.
The fire broke out in the evening in a scrap shop on the ground floor of the building in the Residency Road area apparently due to a short circuit. Soon the flames engulfed the entire building and some of the LPG cylinders kept inside exploded, said Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, Chandan Kohli. He said three people, including a child, were charred to death in the incident and 15 others were rescued and rushed to the hospital. Another body was recovered later. Residents of the building were mostly workers from Assam, the officials said.
A spokesperson of the Fire and Emergency Services Department said they received a call about the fire around 6.10 pm and immediately rushed fire tenders to the spot. Additional Director General of Police, Jammu, Mukesh Singh also rushed to the scene to supervise the firefighting and rescue operation. “Over a dozen families were living in the building. The fire spread very fast, many of the residents could not escape immediately,” said a building resident Anwar Hussain. Another survivor, Yasmeena Khatoon, said the building residents lost everything in the fire.
“We could not retrieve anything and tried to flee the raging fire,” she said, adding that many of her relatives are either injured or missing after the incident.
Meanwhile, the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha has condoled the loss of lives and sanctioned an ex-gratia of Rs.5 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs1 lakh each to the seriously injured.
“Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to LPG cylinder blast at a scrap shop in Jammu. My condolences to the bereaved families and prayers for speedy recovery of the injured. Directed the district administration to provide all the necessary assistance,” Sinha said, as per an official spokesperson.
“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,” he added. (PTI)
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