Owner missing after factory fire death

On Jan 11, 2016

Ghaziabad: The owner of the incense sticks manufacturing unit, where a 20-year-old worker was charred to death in a blaze on Saturday, remained untraceable on Sunday and the police is yet to register an FIR in the case.

Police said the four workers, who had been hospitalized overnight following complaints of trauma and suffocation from the blaze, were discharged after treatment on Sunday. The fire that had started from the basement had engulfed the five-storey building and was doused by a dozen fire tenders.

Ghaziabad ASP Asish Srivastav said that the factory owner has been identified as one Hemant Jain and a search operation is under way to nab him. The cops have also identified the owner of the building from where the unit operated, he said.

“Jain’s cell phone has been switched off after the fire on Saturday. The owner of the building, which had been rented out for the factory, has been identified but he is out of the country. The dead body of Sarfaraz, which had been badly charred, was sent for an autopsy and its report is awaited. No case has been registered in the matter by police,” said Srivastav.

Officials of Ghaziabad fire department said the cause of fire has been traced to sparks from a welding machine which was caught by the inflammable material kept in the basement.

Sharma said the fire had spread to most parts of the building by the time they were informed about it at 5.20pm. “It seems the factory management and workers tried to douse the blaze by themselves and only called the fire tenders around 30 minutes later when the situation went out of control,” he said, adding that the fire department kept a constant vigil was kept at the factory overnight to prevent a fresh blaze.