Blaze at south Delhi godown kills 2 workers

NEW DELHI: Two workers died inside a tent shop after a fire broke out in the basement of the godown in Kotla Mubarakpur on Saturday morning. The workers were stuck inside the building and died of burns and asphyxiation.
There were eight men in the godown at the time of the incident. Six of them managed to escape, but the two deceased were sleeping at a distance from the exit and couldn’t spot it due to the smoke, police said.
The incident was reported at 3am from the Bapu Park area, when one of the labourers noticed smoke and alerted others sleeping beside him. They managed to lift the shutter of the godown and escape. However, the other two, Shyam Mahto (28) and Manil (19), who were sleeping behind a pile of clothes at the rear end of the warehouse, could not hear them leave.
Fire officials said after they received a call, 10 fire tenders were pressed into service. After two hours of cooling operation, firemen entered the building and found the bodies. Officials said the men must have fallen unconscious due to the smoke and also suffered burns. A shoe shop in the ground floor was also burnt.
Ashok Gupta, one of the neighbours who stays on the second floor, said the godown is owned by Vivek Batra, a businessman. The labourers working at Batra’s firm would usually sleep in the godown, which mostly stored silk clothes and wedding tents. Gupta said a retired Air Force official lived on the third floor, while the first and ground floors had two families living.
Fire officials said they suspect fire to have started out of an unstubbed cigarette or bidi. “Based on a preliminary investigation, we have registered a case for causing death due to negligence and negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter,” said Romil Baaniya, DCP (South).
Families of Mahto and Manil said they were cousins and had joined the firm V-square. Mahto came to Delhi in 2010 and later brought Manil to join him there. Their families lived at a JJ colony in south Delhi. The bodies were handed over to the family after an autopsy on Saturday.