Another fire tragedy in B'luru and its aftermath

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: A day after the fire tragedy that killed three people and injured five others at a scrap warehouse in Ramasandra near Kengeri, the police and fire officials found heaps of empty perfume spray cans stored inside the premises.

Two among the deceased were identified as Saleem, 30, and Mehboob Pasha, 32.

A woman also died in the incident, but her identity is yet to be ascertained. Five including two minor boys, aged 10 and 15, suffered burn injuries.

They were identified as Rehan, 10; Sajid Pasha, 15; Irfan, 30; Afroz Pasha, 25; and Allabaksh, 35. Abdul, father of Afroz Pasha, told News Trail that his son had joined the unit in the hopes of earning a higher salary.

“It was his day-off on Sunday. However he took his cousin to show him the workplace when the incident took place,” he said.

An official said the younger boy has sustained 62 per cent burns and is in a critical condition at Victoria Hospital here.

The officials expressed suspicion that the victims used to bring loads of perfume bottles, refill them and also crush them for scrap.

The explosion might have occurred either when dumping crushed bottles in drums or due to a possible leakage of the flammable gas.

The fire also destroyed three vehicles and inflicted partial damage on nearby buildings, highlighting the severity of the incident.

Following preliminary investigation, it was revealed that Saleem had opened the scrap unit 10 days ago after obtaining the place on rent from his long-time friend Vithal, a resident of Chikkabasti.

Mehboob Pasha, who was earlier working for an appbased logistic firm, Porter, was roped in to transport empty perfume cans into the warehouse. He was a resident of Nayandahalli in the city.

According to sources, Pasha had visited the premises around 5 pm on Sunday for the first time and went in to have a look at the operations going-on.

However, the explosion took place and he died along with Saleem and an unidentified woman who was working in the unit.

Two fire tenders were pressed into service following which the inferno was brought under control. Mehboob Pasha's mini truck parked outside the premises was also gutted in the fire.

After the rescue operation, a case was registered at the Kumbalgodu Police Station. Speaking to News Trail, Ramanagara Superintendent of Police Karthik Reddy, who visited the place after the incident, said there were eight people in the premises when the explosion took place.

"We are yet to ascertain whether there was any permission granted to run the unit. Also there is a suspicion of child labour. A probe is on," he said.

The official added that they are waiting for the post-mortem report to ascertain further details.

Risky work environment

This tragic event has cast a spotlight on the dangers lurking in unauthorized and unregulated work environments.

On February 2, eight employees were killed in a major fire that gutted a perfume manufacturing company in Himachal Pradesh.

In the wake of a similar tragedy in Bengaluru, the local community and authorities are now faced with the dual task of providing support to the affected families and ensuring that such an incident does not take place again.