Toddler dies in Dera Bassi fire as blaze from fields spreads to shanties
Dera Bassi, May 13
A one-and-a-half-year-old girl was charred to death and hundreds of migrant labourers were rendered homeless in a fire that spread to a slum of more than 45 shanties at Sundran village from a nearby field on Saturday.
The deceased has been identified as Rupali, daughter of Rambir and Chandini who were not at home when the fire broke out. Another three-year-old girl suffered severe burns. The shanties were reduced to ashes. The migrant labourers are employed at nearby industrial units and fields, said the police.
Fire engines from Panchkula, Ramgarh and Dera Bassi rushed to the spot and controlled the fire after three hours around 6:30 pm.
Fire officials said a farmer in the nearby field had reportedly set the stubble on fire which spread to the nearby shanties. As soon as the fire spread, panic gripped the area and a stampede-like situation was witnessed.
Fire officer Baljit Singh said, “The fire was controlled after three hours but the shanties were reduced to ashes. Eyewitnesses said the fire spread from the nearby field.”
The fire officials said as it was an open area, the wind fanned the fire and gave little time slum dwellers to douse the fire. The eyewitnesses said it was a heart-rending scene as hundreds of homeless elderly persons, women and wailing children were in despair as they had nowhere to go in the peak summer.
