Four hurt in garment factory fire

Four persons suffered burn injuries in a fire that broke out in east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar market on Tuesday.

While two victims escaped with comparatively minor injuries, two others sustained 40 per cent burns.

A three-storey building was entirely gutted in the incident that also caused the loss of property worth lakhs of rupees. The blaze is believed to have been started from the ground floor of the building that serves as a kerosene store.

Over 30 fire tenders were required to douse the fire that was reported from Gandhi Nagar’s Pratap Gali at 3.15 pm. The last fire tender was dispatched to the spot around 7.15 pm.

Smoke continued to emerge from the building till late in the evening though.
The other three floors of the building have several shops that generally deal in garments, paints and musical instruments.

The fire department said much of these items were inflammable which helped the flames spread quickly from the ground floor to the other floors of the building.

Three neighbouring buildings too suffered partial damages in the blaze.
While the cause of the fire is yet to be probed, short circuit on the ground floor of the building is seen as the prima facie reason.

“The shop on the ground floor contains a large stock of kerosene kept in containers. That led to the fire spreading quickly,” said a fire officer.

The building was immediately evacuated and the area cordoned off once the firefighters reached the spot. However, four persons sustained burns in the incident.

Two of them, identified as 72-year-old Harendra Gupta and Rahul, 27, suffered 40 per cent burns. While one was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital, the other is receiving treatment at GTB Hospital.

The congested Gandhi Nagar garments market is Asia’s largest readymade garments market.

The area also contains a large number of garment factories nestled close to each other.