2 workers charred to death in factory fire near Nalagarh

Exposing utter negligence of the factory management, a massive blaze charred two migrant factory workers while 10 others had a close shave at Hari Chetna Rosin and Turpentine Factory at Kosri village near Bhiunkhari in Ramshehar early this morning.

The deceased, identified as Arjun Kumar (50) and Shiv Dayal (24), were sleeping inside the sheds when the fire erupted following a blast igniting sparks. This triggered a fire in the tinned shed burning the migrants, informed onlookers. The duo sustained grievous burn injuries leading to their death.

“The other workers tried to awaken the duo by knocking outside their tinned shed but without success. The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained. A team of forensic science experts visited the spot to gather evidence,” informed Baddi SP Vinod Dhiman.

Their charred bodies were later recovered from the building and sent for a post-mortem examination while the other workers were shifted to a safe location.

Two fire tenders were rushed to the spot from Nalagarh after receiving information this morning. Another fire tender was rushed from Baddi as the fire assumed an alarming proportion due to the highly inflammable nature of the products like rosin and turpentine.

The workers joined to douse the blaze. The fire staff took more than an hour to reach there as the factory lies more than 45 km away from Nalagarh.

Black plumes of smoke could be seen rising high in the sky as the fire threatened to spread to the nearby area. The factory is located in a secluded area owing to which no habitation was under threat.

Santosh Sharma, Commandant, Home Guards, informed that after several hours of intense fire fighting the blaze was brought under control though it took some more hours to fully extinguished the charred remnants by 4:25 pm. Apart from three fire tenders, two portable pumps were used to draw water from a nearby river to douse the fire as there was no scope of refilling the tenders in the nearby area.

The deceased Arjun Kumar hails from Pahadan Purva village and Shiv Dayal is a native of Madhopur village, both in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh.

DSP Bhisham Thakur visited the spot to examine the scenario. A case under section 125 and 106 of the BNS for negligent act which endangers life and causing death by negligence has been registered by the police and further probe was underway.