KL News Network
Srinagar
A devastating fire kept Jammu awake for most of the night till the fire-fighters controlled the conflagration in a slum. By the time, it was controlled three persons had died.
Reports reaching from Jammu said the fire was reported at around 12 in the midnight in the Narwal slum, located on a private land. The slum shelters Rohingya refugees. Residents of Myanmar, Rohingyas are facing ethnic cleansing back home and a few hundred families are living in Jammu.
An official of the Fire and Emergency Services told Kashmir Life from Gandhi Nagar station that their men and machinery rushed to the spot within minutes. “It was a devastating fire and it took us more than 90 minutes to control it,” the official, not the spokesman of the department, said. “FIR is lodged and investigations are going on to identify the cause of the fire.
The official said there are nearly 70 juggis of the Rohingyas. “Almost 52 were destroyed and 18were saved,” the official said. “There were five khokhas as well which were also destroyed.”
Ram Tirath Dubey, Joint Director Fire & Emergency Services in Jammu supervised the fire-fighting operation. “It was all over within less than half an hour,” Dubey told Kashmir Life. “It happened because all the juggis were made of polythene, tin sheets and other combustible material which converted it into a huge inferno instantly.” There were not many gaps between the ramshackle juggis as well which could have reduced the impact of the fire.
“It was not a major fire but it was a serious one because many people died,” Dubey said. “Our personnel have recovered three dead bodies which are females – a woman and two infants.” He said there are three other persons seriously injured, of whom one possibility may not survive. The kids who were declared dead were below two years of age.
Dubey said the fire has rendered nearly 700 people shelter less and the overall losses could be somewhere around Rs 15 lakh.
Earlier, reported quoted Ramesh Gupta, superintendent of medical college hospital Jammu saying that they have treated six persons suffering critical burn injuries.
Besides, Rohingya Muslim refugees, another report said, there were other people also dwelling in the slum. But exact details may take some more time.
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