Delhi: Fire breaks out in shanties of Gokulpuri area, 7 dead; Bodies yet to be identified

New Delhi: As many as seven people died in a fire that broke out in the shanties of the Gokulpuri area on Friday night.

Delhi Fire Service department informed on Saturday that the fire was brought under control on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

Officials recovered seven bodies from the site of the incident. The department officials further informed that as many as 13 fire tenders rushed to the site after gathering information about the incident.

Prima facie, it appears that the fire was caught in around 60 shanties, officials said.

The bodies of the seven people who lost their lives in a fire that broke out in the shanties of the Gokulpuri area last night are yet to be identified, Chief of the Delhi Fire Services Atul Garg said on Saturday.

We recovered 7 charred bodies which are unrecognisable, it seemed that these people were sleeping & couldn’t escape as the fire spread extremely fast. 60 huts were also completely burnt. We are yet to know the reasons behind the fire: Atul Garg, Delhi Fire Director pic.twitter.com/zP4F12qqRG

— ANI (@ANI) March 12, 2022

Speaking exclusively to ANI today, Garg said, “We recovered seven charred bodies which are unrecognizable. It seems that these people were sleeping and couldn’t escape as the fire which spread at an extremely fast rate.” “As many as 60 shanties were also completely burnt. We are yet to know the reasons behind the fire,” he added.

Expressing grief, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that he would meet the people affected in the fire incident in jhuggis (shanties) in the Gokulpuri area of the national capital in which seven people have lost their lives.

The Chief Minister said he will himself meet the families of the victims soon.

In a tweet in Hindi today, the Chief Minister said, “I got to hear this sad news in the morning. I myself will go there and meet the victims.”

सुबह सुबह ये दुःखद समाचार सुनने को मिला। मैं स्वयं वहाँ जाकर पीड़ित लोगों से मिलूँगा। https://t.co/rcsN6yIse6

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 12, 2022

Delhi Police today morning informed that about 30 shanties were burnt down and seven people lost their lives after a fire broke out in the Gokulpuri area.

Speaking to ANI today morning, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police of North East Delhi, Devesh Kumar Pandey said, “At 1 AM today, there was a fire incident reported in Gokulpuri Police Station area. Immediately after gathering information, our teams reached the spot with all the rescue equipment. We also contacted the Fire Department which responded very well. We all managed to douse the fire by around 4 am.”

“…30 shanties have been burned down and seven people lost their lives,” he added.

Delhi Fire Service department informed on Saturday that the fire was brought under control on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Seven bodies have been retrieved from the site of the incident.

The department officials further informed that as many as 13 fire tenders were rushed to the site after gathering information about the incident.
Further probe in the matter is underway.