Parents away at work, 5-year-old dies in slum fire

GHAZIABAD: A five-year-old girl died while her younger sister suffered burns in a fire that broke out in a slum in Surana village in Muradnagar. Police said a short circuit in a high-tension line passing above the slum triggered the fire. Three fire tenders controlled the blaze soon, but not before five shanties had burnt down.
Police identified the deceased as Sheetal and her three-year-old sister as Kashish.When the fire broke out, their parents were out for work, and the girls were asleep. Their father, Shiva, is a labourer at a sugarcane crusher.
Naresh Kumar, ACP (Masuri), told TOI that the fire broke out at 3 am.
Three fire tenders and a police force rushed to the site immediately.
“Most people had come out of their shanties, but the two minors remained inside the hut. They were sleeping at the time,” said the ACP, adding that firemen later rescued the duo and took them to the hospital.
“According to a preliminary investigation, a short circuit in the high-tension wire started the fire around 3 pm. Within a minute, the fire engulfed five shanties that stood next to each other,” said the ACP.
Apart from Shiva's hut, the huts of four of his neighbours, including Anil, Satish and Guddu, also burned down. All of them are from Faridabad, Haryana, but have been residing in Surana village for the last seven years.
Shiva said he was busy with work when he got information from his friend that his house was on fire.
“I reached there immediately and started to pour water on my hut. Soon, the fire tenders also reached and controlled the situation. The firemen rescued Sheetal and Kashish and took them to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared Sheetal dead. Kashish is now stable,” Shiva said.
On Monday, a 74-year-old woman and her daughter suffocated to death after a fire broke out in a four-storey building in Loni Border.