Five killed, two injured as blaze engulfs 3-storey house in Gzb

Ghaziabad: Five persons including a husband-wife and their daughter were charred to death while two others are critically burnt after a massive fire broke out at a three storey house in Ghaziabad on

Wednesday night.

According to police, the fire broke out around 8:30 pm in Hajipur Bamheta village in Loni Border area. Police said that foam/thermocol material was kept inside the house due to which the fire spread rapidly.

“A call was received around 9 pm and four fire tenders were rushed to the spot. We found that the fire broke out at a house situated in a narrow residential lane. Since fire tenders couldn’t reach, hoze-pipes were joined for nearly 300 meters to take water to the building,” said Rahul Kumar, Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Ghaziabad.

“The fire started possibly due to short circuit in a machine kept at ground floor of the house which rapidly spread to upper floors of the house. There were no windows, and we had to break walls in many places to enter the building,” Kumar added.

“A total of 7 persons were trapped inside the house who had to rush to the terrace in order to save themselves. Five persons including children were recovered dead from the second floor while two more persons were found unconscious near the stairs” the CFO said.

Police said that Mohd Sajid’s wife Farheen (25), seven-month-old son Seej, sister Nazra (35), brother-in-law Saif (36), their daughter Isra (4), have died while Nazra’s son Arsh Rehman (4) and her sister Uzma have survived. Uzma reached the third floor by carrying her sister Nazra’s son Arsh Rehman in her lap because of this both of them were saved. However, they also got burnt. At the time of this fire, Sajid had gone to the market to buy milk. By the time he returned, the house was on fire, the police said.

Vivek Chandra Yadav, DCP (Rural), said that all the victims belong to the same family. “Ishtyak Ali has a three-storey house in Hajipur Bamheta village of Loni Border police station. Ishtyak’s son Sajid works in foam and thermocol manufacturing. Due to fire the entire family got trapped inside the house. A car parked inside the house was also burned in this incident. The cause of the fire is being investigated and the injured are under treatment,” said Yadav.