4 dead in fire at shoe factory

Four workers, including two minors, died in a fire at a shoe-manufacturing unit in Delhi's Sultanpuri early today.

The Delhi Fire Services received a call around 6.30 am about the blaze in Rajapuri area of Sultanpuri.

Over two-dozen workers were sleeping in the first and second floors of the three-storey building when the blaze started. All, but four escaped, an officer said.

At least 10 fire tenders rushed to the spot, but the narrow alleys posed a great challenge before they could reach the site, the officer said.

The fire fighters struggled for a couple of hours to douse the fire. It was running without permission in the residential area, a senior police officer said.

Police took the injured ones to a hospital where they were declared dead.

The deceased have been identified as Razi Mohammad (20), Shan Mohammad(17), Ayub (17) and Mehboob (18). They all belonged to Asmada village in Uttar Pradesh Hardoi district. Ayub and Mehboob were siblings, the police official said.

The unit was run by a person named Veeresh Gupta, who lived in the same locality. The building was used for manufacturing shoes and housed around 25-30 workers, he said.

A case has been registered and investigation has been launched, he added.

Meanwhile, another fire was reported around 12.55 pm today at Kucha Mahajani in Chandni Chowk, where a boy was rescued and admitted to hospital, the police said.

The fire in the building, housing several jewellery shops, spread to all three floors. Twenty-two fire tenders were rushed to contain the blaze and the operation was still underway, a police official said.

Today's deaths take the toll in fire incidents in Delhi over the past 72 hours to seven.

Two persons had died in a fire at a footwear-manufacturing unit in Narela on Saturday, while a 62-year-old shopkeeper died in a pre-dawn blaze at his shop in Sarita Vihar area yesterday.