About 150 jhuggis were gutted in a massive fire that broke out in a slum cluster in south Delhi’s Madanpur Khadar during the wee hours of Thursday. Four horses tied in a stable were charred to death.
Used for drawing carts, the horses were restrained using iron shackles. Locals tried to unshackle them, but the fast spreading flames did not allow them enough time to rescue the animals.
Most of the residents of this slum are ragpickers or small-time scrap dealers. They managed to escape with their children and a few valuables after the fire broke out.
The incident was reported around 1 am on Thursday. By the time fire tenders arrived at the spot, most of the jhuggis were gutted and the four horses dead. Seventeen fire tenders were dispatched to fight the flames.
The fire is suspected to have been ignited by an empty egg crate that was set on fire by one of the residents to keep mosquitoes away. The abundance of plastic and wooden material in the slums caused the flames to spread quickly.
Bus catches fireIn another incident, a DTC bus caught fire while it was headed towards Shivaji Stadium. There were over a dozen passengers seated inside the bus when its driver noticed smoke emanating from the engine. He parked the bus by the roadside and got the vehicle vacated.
The bus went up in flames soon after all the passengers were evacuated. There were no injuries to anyone and the flames were brought under control in about half an hour.
In another incident, a school cab caught fire in Preet Vihar around 6 pm. Apart from the cab driver, there was no one inside the van.
The driver managed to escape from the vehicle in the nick of time. The van was fitted with a CNG kit and a leakage in the gas cylinder is suspected to have started the fire.
One more fire was reported from Tri Nagar where a garments shop went up in flames . Three fire tenders brought the situation under control in about half an hour. There were no casualties.