Fire consumes 15 huts in Ahmedabad, 3 kids among 4 killed

The fire and 108 emergency services officials said that the victims who were torched alive are from Kasturbhai Chunara’s family. The deceased were identified as his sister Geeta Chunara, three children identified as Dinesh, Manoj and Dhaval.

Kasturbhai is admitted in civil hospital along with four others who received burns but are now non critical. The injured persons are Hansa Vaghri, Raju Vaghri, Bharti Vaghri and Kanta Chamanbhai.

Kasturbhai said, “I was stuck in the fire when the fire officials reached to save us. I was pulled out along with few others trapped inside the burning homes. When I was pulled out I could see my hut burning and my family members were dead by then. I couldn’t see anything inside the house, there was panic and people were running for their life”.

Jt. Commissioner of Police, S G Bhati said, “When we reached there four were found dead on the spot. We have asked forensic laboratory to ascertain the cause of fire. We suspect a cylinder blast or a shot circuit but residents are not confirming either.” He added, “This spot is densely populated and hutments had stored stockpiles of cotton. The fire spread fast because of that and hutments were charred. The fire was however brought under control after much effort”.

The residents in the area stated that they were fast asleep and didn’t know when the fire spread. Only a few of them told police that they heard a blast from far away but they thought it could be some other spot and didn’t realise that their own shanties were affected. The Dariapur police have registered a case of fire and accidental death. The police are now waiting for the FSL report to ascertain the cause of fire for further investigation.