A fire at a shoe manufacturing factory in Delhi’s Mangolpuri Industrial Area has left four workers dead and two injured, according to the supplied report, while police have summoned the owner and arrested two people in connection with the incident. The report contains a conflicting passage about the condition of all six rescued workers, and the final death toll requires confirmation from the police or hospital authorities.
The fire broke out at about 9.30 pm on Friday at a factory in Phase-I of the Mangolpuri Industrial Area in northwest Delhi. As many as 31 fire tenders were deployed, and fire officials said the blaze was brought under control around 6 am on Saturday.
According to fire officials, the fire began in the building’s basement. The structure comprised a ground floor and three upper floors, along with a partially constructed fourth floor. Fire officer Paras Kumar said the basement was heavily engulfed when firefighters arrived, while smoke had spread to the upper levels and complicated the rescue operation.
During the rescue effort, one worker was found unconscious on the third floor and five others were located in a room on the fourth floor. The report identifies four deceased workers as Ashok, 25, from Nalanda in Bihar; Harihar, 40, a Mangolpuri resident; Lal Babu, 38; and Prem Chand, 50. It separately identifies Vikas and Harinder as injured. Hospital officials said Vikas was stable and receiving oxygen support, while Harinder was on ventilator support in the intensive care unit.
However, another passage in the same report says doctors at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital declared all six workers brought dead. This conflicts with the report’s stated toll of four deaths and its account of two injured workers. That discrepancy has not been resolved in the supplied material and should be clarified by the investigating police team and the hospital.
Police said two people, identified as Suresh Chand and Ashok, had been arrested, while teams were searching for other accused persons. The factory owner has been summoned, and investigators have questioned the contractor and workers to establish how many people were inside the building when the fire started.
An FIR has been registered at Raj Park police station under Sections 287, 125(a), 105 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The provisions cited in the report relate to negligent conduct involving fire or combustible material, rash or negligent acts endangering life, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and common intention.
Local workers alleged that the factory had limited exit options and that employees on the upper floors were unable to descend after smoke filled the building. They also alleged that there was no emergency exit. The report states that these claims remain to be independently established by investigators.
Relatives of the workers said they struggled to contact the factory owner after the incident. Mukhdev, a relative of Harihar, said the family was asked to come to the hospital to identify the bodies. Umesh Prasad, a relative of Ashok, said the worker had spoken to his family shortly before the fire and told them there had been a fire at the factory.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta expressed grief and said she had directed officials to ensure treatment for the injured, assistance to affected families and expedited relief work. Fire personnel continued cooling the building and inspecting the affected areas, while officials said the exact cause of the fire was yet to be determined.
