Three charred to death as tent catches fire in Anand Vihar

Three men were charred to death after a massive fire gutted a makeshift tent near the AGCR Enclave at Anand Vihar in east Delhi, a fire official said on Tuesday.

The Delhi Fire Services received a distress call at 2:22 am on Tuesday and dispatched three fire tenders to the scene. The flames were brought under control by 2:50 am, the official said.

At 3:10 am, station officer Feroz confirmed that three charred bodies were recovered from inside the tent.

They have been identified as Jaggi (30), and brothers Shyam Singh (40) and Kanta Prasad (37), all from Auraiya in Uttar Pradesh who worked as labourers here, the police said in a statement, adding that asphyxiation due to fire killed the trio.

The deceased and another labourer, all working with the Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL), lived in the makeshift tent located near a DDA plot on Manglam Road, the statement said.

"They reportedly used a small container of diesel placed on a cooler stand to light up the tent. Nitin, the survivor,  said that around 2 am, Shyam Singh woke up and noticed the fire. He tried to unlock the door but failed. As the blaze intensified, Nitin managed to escape but the other three got trapped and succumbed to the flames," the statement said.

A gas cylinder inside the tent also exploded, further fuelling the fire.

While the authorities suspect that the diesel container might have triggered the fire, a probe is on to ascertain the exact cause of the blaze, the statement said.

The bodies have been shifted to a mortuary for autopsy, and the statements of Nitin and Rampal, father of Shyam Singh and Kanta Prasad, have been recorded, the police said. PTI