The Hindu : New Delhi News : Two siblings killed in jhuggi fire

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 31, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Two siblings killed in jhuggi fire

Staff Reporter

Gutted: A resident searching for his belongings in Shalimar Bagh jhuggi cluster where a major fire broke out on Tuesday morning.

NEW DELHI: Two toddler siblings were killed in a blaze at a slum cluster in Shalimar Bagh here on Tuesday. About 100 shanties were gutted in the fire.

Dozen fire tenders

According to the police, the fire broke out around noon and soon engulfed the jhuggis. About a dozen fire tenders were pressed into service and the blaze was brought under control within an hour. “We received a stop message around 1-30 p.m.,” said a Delhi Fire Service official.

The rescue team later started a search for casualties and found the dead bodies of two-year-old Kajal and her one-year-old brother Raju, children of Jivesh and Shanti Devi. Jivesh is a rickshaw puller and his wife does menial jobs.

While more children were earlier feared trapped in the fire, the police said only two children were killed in the incident.

“No one is missing. We are recording the statements of the occupants to reconstruct the sequence of events,” said a police officer.

Though some area residents suspect that the fire broke out due to a leaking cooking gas cylinder, the police said investigations were under way to ascertain the exact cause of fire.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi