Fire in Ludhiana unit, 1 dead

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 14

One person died while another sustained severe burn injuries after a fire broke out in a plastic recycling unit at Jugiana late on Thursday night. Seven workers sleeping on the first floor of the factory had a narrow escape. The entire ground floor of the unit, Garg Plastic, has been reduced to ashes.

The deceased worker has been identified as Neeraj Chaudhary (23), a native of Bihar, and the injured, Sonu Chaudhary.

As per fire officials, after receiving the call at 11.30 pm, fire tenders from Focal Point were rushed to the spot. More tenders from other stations were also pressed into service.

The officials said when they started the rescue operation, neither the owner nor any worker informed them about the presence of any worker inside the unit. After struggling for hours, they managed to douse the flames at 4.30 am. They said they didn’t notice any worker inside the unit. It was only when they again visited the site in the morning, as flames started erupting again, they noticed a charred body.

Some workers said when the fire started, they woke up and rushed out. Initially, they tried to douse the flames, but failed. Neeraj tried to escape, but got stuck near the stairs. Ashok Chaudhary, a contractor, was also inside the factory, but he escaped.

Fire station officer SN Sharma, who led the rescue operation, said had the factory owner informed them about the presence of workers inside the factory, the firefighters would have made efforts to save them. Sharma said there were no fire arrangements in the factory and owner had also not obtained any NOC from the department.

Sahnewal SHO Inderjit Singh said the owner of Garg Plastic, Raj Kumar Garg, had been booked under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence) IPC.