Two dead as fire engulfs multi-storey building in Ghaziabad; nine rescued

Two women were killed while nine others were rescued after a fire engulfed a multistorey building in Uttar Pradeshrsquos Ghaziabad in the wee hours on Monday The deceased included a senior citizen reports saidAll the 11 people who were trapped in the fire belonged to the same familyOne of the deceased was 74yearsold and it is suspected that she died of asphyxiation while the other aged around 40 succumbed to burn injuries a police officer who oversaw the rescue and relief work told PTIBoth the women were members of the same family They were taken to a CHC community health centre but did not survive Their postmortem reports are awaited Assistant Commissioner of Police Loni Rajneesh Upadhiyai saidThe building belongs to a person named Satish Pal and the deceased were identified as his mother Bharto Devi and his sister Mamta who had come to stay with them the officer saidChief Fire Officer CFO Rahul Pal said the firefighters were alerted about the incident in Lal Bagh colony of Ghaziabad districts Loni area at 652 am adding that the building housed a tent and catering service on its ground floorThe two women were found on the first and the second floors of the building and were taken to the health facility while nine others were rescued he saidTeams were rushed to the site and two water tenders from Tronica City and one from Sahibabad were sent Pal said There was a major fire in the buildings ground floor where work related to the tent house business was done he saidAlso read UP conversion case Prime accused Shahnawaz Khan held from Raigad district in MaharashtraEight people were trapped in the upper part of the building They were rescued by breaking a wall after the firefighters reached them using an external stair When the building was further checked a woman was found injured on the first floor and another on the second floor Pal saidOn the cause of the fire he said it seems it broke out after a short circuit in the buildings ground floor There was no one present in the ground floor during the time of the incident he addedPal said a firefighter was injured in the rescue operation when an iron gate fell on him The fire has been doused the official saidAccording to police among those rescued six were aged below 30 no children and the remaining above 30 There were four women among those rescued by firefightersldquoThe family members were asleep when the fire broke out Some locals noticed it in the morning they intervened and tried to help douse the growing blaze but to no avail Eventually they alerted the local police stationrdquo ACP Upadhiyai saidldquoFull force along with firefighters was at the spot before 7 am and any further delay could have caused a worse tragedyrdquo the officer addedHe said the police are in the process of receiving a complaint from the buildings owner over the ldquoaccidental firerdquo and further legal proceedings were being carried out With inputs from PTI