NEW DELHI: A 27-year-old firefighter died after part of a burning building collapsed here in outer Delhi’s Udyog Nagar area on Thursday, a senior official said.
The official added that a total of four men including one civilian were taken out of the debris. The deceased has been identified as Amit Baliyan, a resident of Shahdara.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal condoled his death and tweeted, "It is with deep sadness I inform you that one of our firemen was martyred while saving people from fire. Our firemen save other people's lives by putting their lives under extremely risk in difficult circumstances. May his soul rest in peace."
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal also condoled the death of the firefighter.
"Deeply anguished over the news of death of fire operator Amit Balyan Amit along with his team members fought bravely to save the lives of many people. I salute his bravery My sincere condolences to his family members. All possible assistance to be extended to the injured & bereaved family," he tweeted.
Fifteen firefighters received minor injuries and were admitted to Sri Balaji Action Hospital in Paschim Vihar along with four others who were rescued from the debris. According to fire officials, in the last five years, six firefighters including Baliyan have lost their lives in harness.
The building is an outlet cum- godown of Okaya batteries and inverters in Udyog Nagar, Peera Garhi. Police said that the fire started in the basement of the building that was used for storing batteries.
After the fire, strong blasts occurred in the building resulting in the structure collapsing. According to fire personnel, a part of the building had already collapsed before they could reach the spot and another part started to crumble while they were dousing the blaze.
They said that the structure felt unstable even while cooling operations were taking place in the afternoon. Delhi Fire Services (DFS) Chief Atul Garg said that a call was received at 4.23 am reporting that the four-storey building had caught fire. He added that initially seven fire tenders were rushed to the spot.
A total of 35 fire tenders were working to control the situation. Rescue operations were aided by teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) and Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS). BJP’s Delhi president Manoj Tiwari who reached the spot said that he was saddened about the deceased firefighter and appealed to the Delhi Government to take immediate measures to conduct a safety audit to avoid such incidents in the future.
No fire clearance, case filed. The DFS Chief Garg said that the factory did not have a No Objection Certificate from the fire office. Police have registered a case under multiple sections of IPC including Sections 285, 337 and 304-A against the owner of the building.