Noida: 2 minor girls dead, around 500 shanties gutted in fire

Noida: Two minor girls were charred to death while over five hundred shanties were gutted in flames after a massive fire broke out at a slum in Behlolpur village under phase-III police station area of Noida on Sunday. Officials suspect that the fire possibly broke out due to a short circuit which turned massive because of an explosion of gas cylinders added with the wind.

According to police, the deceased were identified as Paro (3) and Dolly (6), both real sisters and daughter of Shravan, a ragpicker who belongs to Nawada district in Bihar. Shravan used to live in a hut in the area along with his wife Sulekha and eight daughters. On Thursday, Shravan had gone to Bihar to attend a marriage function of a relative.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath condoled the loss of lives in the mishap. He has announced financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh for the family of each of the deceased, the state government said in a statement issued in Lucknow. He also directed the officials to extend all possible help to the affected people.

As per locals, the fire broke out around 1 pm when Sulekha and her daughters were sleeping in the hut. By the time neighbors could alert her, the fire had surrounded the house. Somehow, she managed to save her six daughters while Paro and Dolly were killed in the fire incident.

Pushpa Rani, a local told Millennium Post that when she came out of home, she saw flame billowing out of the garage. "I heard the loud sound of the blast and flames started growing bigger. One by one we heard multiple blasts and the fire turned massive. We alerted others living in neighborhood and started running to save our lives. We have seen our house and belongings turning into ashes in front of our eyes" Rani said. Arun Kumar Singh, chief fire officer of Noida said that the fire department got information about the incident around 2 pm and nearly two dozen fire tenders were sent to the spot. "The rescue operation continued for over three hours and it took firefighters nearly two hours to completely douse the flames. We are investigating the reason which triggered the fire" he said.