SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Nov 14: Three members of a family including a six-year-old girl died from suffocation in a major fire in Kendua Bazar under Kendua police station area, around 7 km away from the district headquarters on Monday night, said an official.
The police official said that the fire broke out in the ground floor based cosmetic shop at around 9.30 pm which spread to the upper floor where the shop owner Subhash Gupta was living with his family.
The deceased were identified as Subhash Gupta’s mother Uma Devi (70), sister Priyanka Gupta (37) and daughter Soumya Gupta alias Mouli (6).
The fire, which broke out in Subhash Gupta’s cosmetic shop SK General Store also engulfed six other adjacent shops. The official said goods worth Rs 20 to 25 lakh are estimated to be gutted in the fire.
The reason for the fire could not be known immediately but family members guessed it could be due to a short circuit or Diwali Diya.
Getting information, Deputy Superintendent of Police (law and order) Arvind Kumar Binha also reached the spot and monitored the rescue operation. He said that the reason for the fire could be said only after investigation.
Subhash Gupta runs a shop on the ground floor of the building and was living on the first floor. Since the entrance of the upper floor was through the shop, family members (reportedly eight persons) had been trapped in fire and smoke. Local people rescued them through bamboo ladder after breaking windows in a one-hour operation.
Uma Devi and Priyanka Devi had died from burn injuries and suffocation before they were rescued. The daughter Mouli was first taken to Patliputra Superspecialty Hospital Joraphatak and was referred to Asian Jalan Hospital due to her critical condition where doctors declared her dead.
Subhash Gupta said a passerby at around 9.30 pm informed him about smoke billowing out from his shop. As he lifted the shutter, flame sheet of fire came out in a devastating shape.
Two fire fighting vehicles also reached the spot timely. Since the shop was in a narrow lane of Kendua Bazar fire fighting team was not able to reach the shop. After two hours local people with the help of fire fighting tenders controlled the fire.
