Congress member Usha Devi Poonamia (69) of Ward 23 of the Kuthala-Falna municipality and her husband Prakash Poonamia (70) died after being caught in a fire accident caused by firecrackers exploding in the market area on Diwali day in Pali district of Rajasthan.
Police said: Councillor Usha and her husband had set up and were running a temporary firecracker stall for Diwali in front of their cosmetics and battery shop in the market area near the Golden Temple in Falna town.
On Sunday night at around 10:30 p.m., some people in the area burst firecrackers in connection with Diwali. A spark from this fell on the temporary firecracker shop they were running, causing all the firecrackers there to explode and the entire shop to catch fire and burn. Prakash, the husband, was trapped in the fire and died from severe burns. Usha went to the basement of the shop in an attempt to save her life. However, she died of suffocation due to the smoke.
Firefighters battled intensely until 2 a.m. on Monday and brought the fire under control. The water sprayed by the firefighters had accumulated up to 10 feet in the basement of the shop. As a result, after struggling until 5 a.m., firefighters recovered the bodies of the two people. Their bodies have been sent for postmortem examination. It was said that the couple’s son is working as a chartered accountant in Mumbai.
6 dead in Maharashtra: In Mumbai and surrounding areas of Maharashtra state, 140 fire incidents were reported on Diwali day.
In a fire that broke out on Sunday night at a shop with a residence in Mumbai’s Tarasiv area, 6 members of the same family who were in deep sleep in the upstairs residence died of suffocation. Since it was a shop selling plastic and oil products, the fire spread rapidly. Police said that although neighbors tried to put out the fire, they could not save them. The cause of the fire is not yet known. At the same time, police said that an oil lamp was found burning in the shop.
A fire broke out around 10 p.m. on Sunday in a residential area on Dr. Maheswari Road in Dongri, Mumbai. Several shops and hutments were reduced to ashes in the blaze. Wooden furniture, cooking gas cylinders, plastic containers, tarpaulin sheets and other items were destroyed. Firefighters battled the fire for 9 hours and brought it under control by 7:23 a.m. on Monday.
Similarly, a fire broke out at around 10:51 p.m. in a garage on Marol Military Road in Andheri. Firefighters battled for five hours to extinguish it. Another fire broke out at around 11:56 p.m. in a 10-storey commercial building in the Jolly Gymkhana area of Vidya Vihar. The fire spread from the 7th and 10th floors of the building. After six hours of effort, firefighters brought the blaze under control. No casualties were reported in this incident. Officials said an investigation is under way into the cause of the fire.
Ban on fireworks until Nov. 25: Following a series of fire accidents, the Mumbai Disaster Management Authority on Monday ordered a ban on fireworks that can be launched into the sky and explode, in Mumbai and surrounding areas until the 25th.
A major fire broke out in a 17-storey residential building in Thane, Maharashtra, on Diwali day. The fire started on the 7th and 14th floors of the building around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday and spread to other floors as well. High-rise fire engines were brought in, and efforts to extinguish the blaze were intensified. Firefighters safely rescued 50 residents who were trapped on the floors affected by the fire. After an intense battle, the firefighters brought the fire under control around 2:30 a.m. on Monday. Officials said that no casualties have been reported so far in this fire incident.
In Haryana... a fire broke out at midnight on Sunday at a hotel located in the Lal Kurti Bazaar area of Ambala in Haryana state. Firefighters rushed to the spot and safely rescued everyone staying in the hotel. State Transport Minister Anil Vij visited the scene in person and inspected it.
In Telangana... on Diwali day in Telangana state, the smoke from bursting firecrackers caused eye injuries to 60 people, including 29 children.
Regarding this, officials of Hyderabad Government Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital said on Monday, “Due to eye injuries caused by firecracker smoke, 60 people, including 29 children, came to the hospital for treatment until 9 a.m. on Monday. Of them, 10 were admitted as inpatients and treated. Among them, 8 are continuing treatment. Special arrangements have been made at the hospital for treating firecracker burn injuries.”
64 fire incidents in Jammu and Kashmir: Officials said on Monday that 64 major fire incidents were reported in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir on Diwali day.
Of these, 30 fire incidents were recorded in Jammu district alone, including the massive fire at the historic Nehru Market warehouse.
A total of 64 fire incidents occurred, including 10 in Samba and Kathua districts, 8 each in Udhampur and Reasi districts, 3 each in Kishtwar district and the Rajouri-Poonch surrounding areas, and one fire incident in Ramban.
However, officials said that Jammu district was the worst affected by the fire. In a fire that broke out at around 9:15 p.m. on Sunday at the Nehru Market warehouse, which has long been Jammu’s oldest commercial center, 15 shops selling essential food items, including food grains and cooking oil, were gutted. The fire quickly spread to the neighboring shops. Fire engines were summoned from various areas, and after battling until midnight, the fire was brought under control. It is said that this fire incident would have caused huge losses to the traders.
Regarding this, the warehouse association president Deepak Gupta said, “The fire engines arrived one and a half hours late, which caused the fire to spread to other shops as well. Moreover, only two fire engines arrived at first. The government should take appropriate action regarding the negligence of the firefighters,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary personally inspected the Nehru Market warehouse that was gutted in the fire. He assured that the government would take steps to provide appropriate compensation to the traders affected by the fire.
Similarly, a five-storey commercial building in Jammu’s Bahari Mohalla area, which housed clothing shops and shoe stores, was also destroyed by fire.
A five-storey building housing commercial establishments, including a pharmacy, in Shalimar, and a hardware warehouse in Gangyal were damaged in fire incidents on Diwali day. Officials said no fatalities were reported in these fire incidents.
In Gujarat... In Gujarat state, 366 firecracker-related fire incidents occurred in various cities including Surat, Ahmedabad, and Rajkot. Of these, 182 fire incidents were reported in Rajkot alone. Across the state, 62 people suffered burn injuries and received treatment in hospitals.