30 huts gutted in Pakistani migrant camp fire

At least 30 huts were gutted in a fire that broke out at the makeshift Pakistani Hindu migrants' camp at Majnu ka Tilla in north Delhi on Sunday, destroying most of their belongings. No one, however, was injured.

The fire broke out around 2 p.m. and seven fire tenders were rushed to the camp -- a settlement along the Yamuna river bank in north Delhi, a fire department official told IANS.

"a large number of huts were destroyed in the fire. It was controlled by 2.30 p.m. and no one was injured in the incident," the official said.

According to the migrants, the fire spread from timber wood while one of the families was preparing meals.

Pawan Das, who managed to save his passport and visa, said over 120 victims lost their rations, clothes, woollens, documents and the currency they had managed to convert.

"I am left only with the clothes that I am wearing. Luckily, I managed to save the visa documents and passport with me. Everything else has been destroyed," he told IANS.

"The fire took us by surprise and all we could manage was to take our children away to safety. We did not even have a chance to save cash and documents. We don't know what we will eat at night or where would we go," Mangan, another migrant, said.

At least 1,000 people, comprising over 30 families mostly from the Sindh province of Pakistan, live in the makeshift camp. The first batch of migrants arrived in 2011 and the last in December 2014.

--IANS

kd/pgh/dg