On Friday, a large-scale fire blazed out in Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi industrial area that engulfed two factories and claimed the lives of five workers. The accident comes at a time when a series of fire emergencies have been reported in Noida and other places in the National Capital Region (NCR) in the previous day. Smoke billowed through the yard of the industrial area as high flames engulfed it, leaving the workers to leave work as the emergency teams hurried to the site.
Initial reports indicate that the fire originated from an explosion of a transformer inside of the industrial area. Flames raced around as oil from the damaged transformer poured out onto the ground, officials reported. Soon, it spread to two other nearby factories and spread, engulfing the buildings within minutes.
When the fire started, reportedly workers ran for their lives as the flames grew stronger, to escape to safety. But five workers have been injured by burns, and have been taken to a local hospital for treatment. All injured workers are under medical treatment, but they haven’t been released with details of their injuries, authorities said.
A number of trucks from the fire brigade were brought in to put out the fire. Firefighters have been up against the blaze for hours to quell the blaze and prevent the fire from spreading to other industrial units in the vicinity of the blaze.
An investigation is under way to figure out exactly what caused the transformer to explode, and how much damage may have been done to the property. This incident has once again brought a question of whether the policy for industrial safety measures and fire control policies are effective enough or not in informatively populated industrial areas.