Uttar Pradesh: 5 including 3 children dead after Durga Puja Pandal catches fire
In a dreadful fire incident, at least five people including three children died and more than 66 people sustained burn injuries as a Durga Puja Pandal in Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadohi district caught fire on Sunday night.
It was a stampede-like situation for at least three hours as the fire engulfed the Pandal. On receiving information, firefighters also reached the spot and began rushing the injured children and women from the Pandal to the hospitals.
After the incident, the UP Police and administrative staffers including District Magistrate (DM), Bhadohi, Gaurang Rathi, and Superintendent of Police (SP) Dr Anil Kumar reached the spot to inspect the scene.
Negligence of organising committee cropped
The Narthua Durga Pandal in Aurai Tehsil of Bhadohi district is a centre of attraction. Religious programmes are screened through projectors inside the Pandal. To watch them, women and children of more than a dozen villages reached here on Sunday. More than 150 women and children were present at the said Pandal.
The negligence of the organising committee has come to the fore in the incident. A stampede-like situation was created when the fire flames engulfed the Pandal after a short circuit. Children and women fell inside the Pandal owing to a single entry gate. As the Pandal was made from fibre and plastic foil, within a few moments, the whole Pandal caught fire. The people present there did not get a chance to apprehend the situation and many of them sustained burn injuries.
The President of the Organising Committee, Baccha Yadav was booked by the Bhadohi Police, reports said.
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