3 of family suffocated to death in Faridabad building fire

Sumedha Sharma
Tribune News Service
Faridabad, June 8

A 32-year-old woman and her two children were suffocated to death on Saturday when a fire broke out in a private school running on the first floor of a building in Dabua Colony.

Victim Neeta’s husband Vishal owned the building where he ran a cloth showroom on the ground floor and a playschool on the first floor. The family lived on the second floor. 

Around 7.30 am, Vishal stepped out to buy milk and saw smoke coming out of his cloth showroom. He rushed upstairs and woke up his wife and two children — Yashika (7) and Lucky (5) — and asked them to come down.

Vishal rushed downstairs to control the situation. He opened his shop’s shutter but within minutes fire spread to entire building which also got enveloped with thick smoke.

The police were informed who along with fire officials reached the spot. They immediately rescued Neeta and her two children who lay unconscious. They were rushed to BKL Hospital, where the trio was declared brought dead.

The cause of death was stated to be suffocation due to smoke.

“Vishal came down seeing flames rising from cloth godown and thought he could do something to douse it before help came. But within seconds smoke engulfed the entire building. The family has been shattered and he is not in a state to say anything,” said a relative.

“The matter is being investigated and we have taken statements of Vishal and other eyewitnesses. An inquiry is on and after its conclusion will we know who is responsible for the accident,” police spokesperson Sube Singh said.

The incident has highlighted blatant violation of norms pertaining to use of residential properties for commercial purposes. The Haryana government had already ordered a thorough review and inquiry of all play schools across districts on various parameters, including fire safety, but to no avail. 

CM Manohar Lal  Khattar has ordered a detailed inquiry into the incident, which will be carried out by local administration and police.