Delhi firefighters die after getting caught in cylinder blast

Two fire fighters from Delhi Fire Services died after they were caught in a blast from a burning cylinder inside a food joint in West Delhi's Vikaspuri area in the early morning hours on Friday.

The firefighters- Hari Singh Meena and Hari Om were rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhaya (DDU) Hospital where they were declared brought dead. Two other fire officials, Navin and Ravinder Singh had suffered grievous injuries and later shifted to BL Kapoor hospital.

The fire broke out in the wee hours of Friday morning around 5:30 am. A passerby walking through Vikaspuri's Lal Market at H block, had spotted a smoke emanate from inside Chatkora Food and Snacks. He immediately made a call to the Delhi Fire Services who sent in three fire tenders along with ten fire officials. When the fire officials had reached the spot, they found the smoke coming from the inside and decided to cut open the shutter of the shop.

While they were busy prying away the shutter, they were taken by surprise, as a blast from a cylinder ripped through the shutter throwing them back several meters. According to Deputy Fire Chief (Delhi Fire Services), Atul Garg, the shop had contained four cylinders and one of the cylinders must have caught fire, setting off the explosion.

The fire was doused within an hour and in the meantime the family which runs the shop had come to the site to inspect the shop. They had claimed that they had taken the shop on rent two years back and the owner of the shop was in the United States of America. "We heard about the fire around 6 am. The fire was caused due to a short circuit as the cold storage. We had solely depended on the store for our living," said Harpreet Kaur, a relative of the family who run the shop.

The family members of the fire fighters were contacted who reached DDU Hospital they were later informed that the two of them had died on spot. Their bodies were later handed over to the relatives after their post mortem.

Hari Om's family conducted his last rites at a crematorium near Kakrola Village near his home. Several people from the village had gathered around his body, and waited as their son, Tushar lit the funeral pyre.

Inside his house, his wife – Suman and daughter Ankita were inconsolable as they mourned the loss of the sole breadwinner of the family. Hari Om and his family were supposed to attend a relative's marriage function on Monday and instead were attending his funeral. "He had a 24 hour shift, he called me yesterday and enquired about my well being," said Tushar.

Hari Om's daughter was preparing for a medal ceremony in which her father was going to be facilitated. "My father was supposed to get a medal for saving the lives of three people two years ago. He had served in the DFS for 28 years and saved many lives," said Ankita, Hari Om's daughter.

The police have registered a case of death due to negligence against the owner's of the eatery. "We will find if there was any negligence resulting in the deaths. We will also investigate if the eatery was running illegally," said Vijay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (west).