Two killed, three injured in factory fire in Panipat village
Two workers were charred to death and three others sustained serious burn injuries after a massive fire broke out at a textile factory in Balana village of the district late last night.
The police have booked factory owners Mohit Gupta and Amit Gupta for allegedly not making proper security arrangements in the factory to deal with such fire incidents.
The deceased have been identified as 34-year-old Taslim of Panipat’s Shiv Nagar and 30-year-old Sumit of Karoda village in Kaithal district. The bodies have been sent to the Civil Hospital for post-mortem examination.
The injured have been identified as Farukh, Kabil and Jagir. They were living on the factory premises.
They were rushed to the NC Medical College in Israna, from where they were referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak, for further treatment.
As per available information, the fire broke out at Shiv Fabric Private Limited in Balana village around 12.30 am. The fire engulfed the whole factory within a short span of time and destroyed all machines, raw material and ready products.
As many as 20 fire engines from Panipat and Gohana were pressed into service to douse the flame, which took around five hours to control.
On the other hand, Ranbir of Vaisar village in Madlauda, in his complaint to the Israna police, said that his daughter got married to Sumit of Karoda nine years ago and he was living with his sisters in Palri village and he was working in the Shiv Fabric Factory in Balana for a long time.
He alleged that his Sumit told him that machinery in the factory had become very old and there a constant threat of short circuit. He said Sumit had also told this to contractor Mukhtyar and factory owners Amit and Mohit.
Ranbir alleged that the contractor and the factory owners were responsible for the deaths as they didn’t make proper arrangements for fire safety in the factory.
Inspector Vinod Kumar, SHO, Israna, said a case had been registered against the factory owners under Section 106 of the BNS for not making proper fire safety arrangements in the factory.He said prima facie, short circuit seemed to be the reason behind the fire. Bodies of the deceased have been handed over to the victims’ kin after post-mortem examination.
