new Delhi: A massive fire broke out in a building in Jammu’s Residency Road area on Monday, killing four people, including a child, and injuring 15 others. The fire started inside a junk shop on the ground floor of the building.
Quoting police officials, PTI reported that the death toll may rise further as the rescue operation is still on. The fire apparently started due to a short circuit.
Jammu Senior Superintendent of Police Chandan Kohli said, “The flames engulfed the entire building and some of the LPG cylinders kept inside exploded.”
The injured have been admitted to hospital. The residents of the building were mostly workers from Assam.
Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha said that an ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh each would be given to the families of the deceased.
LG’s office said, “Deeply saddened by the loss of life and property due to LPG cylinder blast at a junk shop in Jammu. My condolences to the bereaved families and prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured. directed to provide assistance.” J&K tweeted.
“The families of the deceased in the Jammu LPG cylinder blast incident will be given an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each. An ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh will be given to the seriously injured and Rs 25,000 to those with minor injuries.” Said it.
A spokesman for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said the fire was reported around 6.10 pm.
Additional Director General of Police, Jammu, Mukesh Singh also reached the spot to oversee the rescue operation.
Anwar Hussain, a resident of the building, was quoted by PTI as saying, “More than a dozen families were living in the building. The fire spread very quickly, many residents could not escape immediately.”
Another survivor, Yasmina Khatoon, said residents of the building lost everything in the fire.
“We couldn’t get anything and tried to run away from the fierce fire,” she said. He also said that many of his relatives were either injured or went missing after the incident.