CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: Six workers died in a major fire that broke out at
Sunshine Enterprises
, a Waluj industrial area-based glove and safety equipment manufacturing unit, near
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
, early on Sunday morning.
The fire broke out sometime after 1am, and at the time, 17 people were sleeping on the premises of the family-owned factory.
Eleven of them managed to make it out on time.
Chief minister Eknath Shinde, expressing grief, has announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the family members of the deceased workers and free treatment for people injured at the state-run hospital.
Fire brigade officials in Waluj said they received the distress call at 1.20am, and they immediately sent their fire tenders to the factory. Fire tenders of the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation and Bajaj Auto were rushed to the site.
Rajesh Gharat, the
MIDC
Waluj fire officer, said the fire might have broken out earlier, but since people were sleeping, they came to know of it late. "The factory unit is a single-storey structure. By the time we reached the site, the factory and the margin area surrounding it, measuring around 5,000 sqft, was almost completely engulfed in the flames. There was thick smoke and intense heat emanating from all sides of the factory. We managed to get in and found six bodies," he said.
Some of the people who were inside when the fire broke out used a staircase to get out before the flames could cut off their path. A few others, who could not use the staircase, went to the roof and, using a tree nearby, climbed out,” he said. The deceased were identified as Mohammed Mushtaq Mohammed Ibrahim (32), Kushar Aalam Jafiroddin (37), Mohammed Iqbal Mohammed Ehrar (17), Lallan Singh (60), Shaikh Riyaz (32) — all from Madhubani district of Bihar — and Mohammed Margab Alamjita Saduddin (32), from the Badnapur taluka of Jalna district of Marathwada. Ganesh Tathe, MIDC Waluj police station’s inspector, said acontractor and his two children are among the 11 who managed to get out on time.
“A total of 17 people, including workers, contractor and their family members were trapped inside. Of them, six succumbed to smoke and heat. The workers’ bodies were sent for a postmortem examination after identification,” he said, adding those who escaped do not have major injuries. Police and fire department officials said the exact cause of the fire could not be ascertained immediately. The MIDC Waluj police have booked two people — labour contractor Mohammed Hasinoddin Shaikh, who too is from Bihar, and factory owner Saber Khan Shabbir Khan Pathan, a resident of the Baijipura area.
The police have invoked IPC sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) and 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all). The Sunshine Enterprises management and authorities could not be reached for their comments on the mobile phone numbers displayed on the firm’s website.
English (US) ·