Ghaziabad: As a mother and her 18-month-old son were killed when their house collapsed on them in Ghaziabad's Muradnagar area during repair works, a fire blazed through around 300 shanties in Sihani village, burning a two-year-old
alive.
The roof collapse in Balmiki Colony was reported on Monday evening to the authorities at the house of Maya, a sanitary worker in the local municipality. The deceased was Maya's daughter-in-law Nisha and her grandson Raftar.
Those injured in the incident were six other family members of Maya and two masons, engaged by her to repair the roof of her two-storey home.
All family members of Maya, including herself and her husband Mahipal besides six others, were on the ground floor when the roof of the first floor collapsed on the ground floor roof, which too came crashing down on them, burying all
of them.
Following the incident, the fire brigade workers rushed to the spot and managed to extricate all 10 persons buried under the rubble,
said police.
They all were rushed to the hospital where Nisha and her son Rafter were declared brought dead, said
police.
While three of the injured persons were discharged from the hospital after the first aide, five others are still undergoing treatment, the
police said.
As for the fire that laid waste to around 300 shanties in Sihani village, fire authorities said 12 fire tenders were rushed to the spot and it took them three hours to douse the flames.
Police said almost all the people living in the slums were ragpickers.
Many small gas cylinders exploded due to the blaze. Some warehouses, used for storing polythene and other inflammable material, also caught fire, according to the police.
Aisha, 2, was burnt alive, while more than 10 people sustained burn injuries, Sihani Gate police station in-charge Krishna Gopal Sharma said, adding the cause of the blaze will be
probed.
Subdivisional Magistrate Aditya Prajapati said the landowners had been identified and legal notices had been issued for renting out the land for shanties. Action will be taken in case of unsatisfactory reply, the official
added.