Family of five charred to death in Bhalswa Dairy fire

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According to police, the fire broke out in the early hours of Monday. They are yet to ascertain what caused it. The dead were identified as Mohammad Kalam (35), his wife Ravina (32) and their three sons — Salamat, Niyamat and an eight-month-old Ajmat. Ravina was visually-impaired. They hailed from Bihar’s Madhubani district.

Mohammad Badal, whose jhuggi stood beside that of Kalam’s, said his wife noticed the fire at about 2 am and woke him up.
“The flames had spread by then. A tree beside our house was partially burnt. We immediately rushed outside with our children,” said Badal.

He said that no one tried to rescue Kalam’s family as someone had yelled that they had escaped safely.

“A gas cylinder also caught fire, causing a blast, and we couldn’t go near our houses. We found out much later that the family never got out,” Badal added.

Locals said firefighters arrived at about 3.15 am.

A local, Mohammad Ujaale, said, “The fire department doused the flames and left. Even then no one realised that Kalam and most of his family had died.”

Ujaale and others discovered the bodies at about 4.15 am.

A fire department official said the incident was reported at 2.58 am and fire tenders reached the spot 10 minutes later. The flames were doused by 3.30 am. However, the officer did not say if they had found the bodies. “We will submit a report to police tomorrow,” he said.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (Northwest) Amritha Goguloth said prima facie a short circuit in the electrical wiring caused the fire. “We are awaiting the fire department’s report on the incident before we can come to a conclusion,” said the DCP. She added that police is investigating why Kalam’s family did not manage to escape in time.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government has announced a compensation of Rs 8 lakh to the deceased’s family. Those whose jhuggis were gutted will get Rs 25,000 each.