Gondia hotel blaze claims seven lives

NAGPUR: Seven people, including two from city, were burnt alive in their sleep in a four-storeyed hotel that caught fire in Gondia city in the early hours of Wednesday. The Bindal Plaza Hotel was located in the heart of the city at Gorelal Chowk.
The victims, police said, did not have much opportunity to flee as the four floors of the hotel had turned into a blazing inferno.However, some made a miraculous escape too.
Gondia SP Dilip Patil Bhujbal said, “We have registered a case accidental death. We are also looking into other illegalities and suitable action would be taken if violations are found.”
Around 15 fire tenders toiled for more than four hours before the flames could be brought under control but the casualties could not averted. According to reliable sources, short circuit in one of the shops at the commercial plaza is presumed to be the reason behind the devastating fire.
It’s learnt that the fire quickly spread to the other areas of the building but affected the hotel the most. Seven shop employees, who were sleeping in the premises, were among the survivors as they managed to escape soon after the fire broke out.
The deceased, identified as Hiralal Soni, Ravindra Jain, Abhijeet Patil, Pravesh Deshkar, Prem Saboo and Aditya Puhade, had come to attend a marriage function of the Ajmera family who owned a sari shop. One of the deceased is yet to be identified.
Soni and Jain were from MP. Deshkar and Saboo were from city. Puhade was a native of Warora taluka in Chandrapur district. Chinu Ajmera, who was hosting the marriage party, had booked several rooms at the hotel to accommodate his visitors.
Some of the customers and hotel employees too sustained injuries. Rajaram Yele, one of the workers, sustained serious injuries in his bid to escape from the burning third floor of hotel. A panicky Yele jumped as he could not escape through the smoke and fire.
Questions are now being raised on the illegal extensions and alleged encroachments of the hotel. Local authorities are learnt to have expressed fear that casualties could have been bigger if the incident would have taken place during the day.