Himachal fire tragedy: Toll rises to 10 in Arki market blaze; 9 Nepalese nationals, 8-year-old among dead

SHIMLA: The death toll in the fire at Arki market in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district was revised to 10 on Tuesday.

Rahul Jain, additional deputy commissioner, Solan, said nine Nepalese nationals and an eight-year-old child from Bihar had died in the blaze that broke out in an old wooden residential building and spread to nearby shops and buildings after multiple cylinder explosions.

Three more human remains were found after a 30member National Disaster Response Force team from Slapper in Mandi and a sniffer dog squad joined search operations. Jain said, “Only human remains are being found, as this was an extremely severe fire. Only one injured child was recovered on Monday, who later died in the hospital.”

Three more human remains were found after a 30-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team from Slapper in Mandi district and a sniffer dog squad joined search operations at Arki market in Solan district on Tuesday.

Rahul Jain, additional deputy commissioner of Solan, said a total of 10 people, including nine Nepal nationals and an eight-year-old child from Bihar, had lost their lives in the fire. “So far, we did not recover any complete body. Only human remains are being found, as this was an extremely severe fire. Only one injured child was recovered on Monday, who later died in the hospital,” he added.

Jain said the rescue teams recovered two human remains on Monday and three on Tuesday, which the forensics team collected and stored for possible DNA matching later.

A joint search operation involving NDRF, SDRF, the district administration, police, home guards, and fire department teams is set to resume on Wednesday morning.

The Solan deputy commissioner ordered a magisterial inquiry into the complete incident on Monday. DNA samples from the deceased persons’ family members were collected, and identification of the recovered remains will be possible only after DNA results, said SDM Arki, Nishant Tomar.

The police registered an FIR under Section 287 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter, said SP Gaurav Singh. Also, legal action is being taken against the damaged 4-storey old wooden building owner, Rajeev Gupta, under the Essential Commodities Act, as at least 6 LPG cylinders stored in the building exploded during the blaze. The owner was using his building’s ground and first floor for commercial purposes, and the top 2 floors were rented out to migrant labourers from Nepal and Bihar.

The search operation was also obstructed on Monday due to encroachments made in the carriageway at the site, as the search teams were not able to move JCB earth excavator machines smoothly.