A fire that broke out in the shanties (jhuggis) of Delhi’s Gokulpuri has left seven people dead. “Seven people died in a fire that broke out in the shanties of Gokulpuri area last night. The fire was brought under control, seven bodies recovered by the Fire Department”, the Delhi Fire Service informed.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed grief over the incident and met the family of the victims.
As per the reports, a fire call was received at around 1 am last night. The fire affected about 60 huts, and fire tenders recovered seven bodies from the spot. The fire broke out near pillar number 12 in Gokulpuri.
Speaking to news agency ANI today morning, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police of North East Delhi, Devesh Kumar Pandey said, “At 1 AM today, there was a fire incident reported in Gokulpuri Police Station area. Immediately after gathering information, our teams reached the spot with all the rescue equipment. We also contacted the Fire Department which responded very well. We all managed to douse the fire by around 4 am.”
“…30 shanties have been burned down and seven people lost their lives,” he added.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Devesh Kumar Mahla said information about the blaze was received around 1 am, following which police and fire officials reached the spot. The blaze was finally brought under control around 4 am.