Angry locals on Tuesday accused authorities of negligence over a fire which engulfed a trade fair Meerut, killing 100 people and leaving survivors battling for their lives.
Police used batons to drive back hundreds of distraught and angry residents who massed outside the cordoned-off fairgrounds where the blaze swept through crowded tents on Monday night. An official said an enquiry had been ordered.
Police chief Rajiv Sabarwal told Agence France-Presse more than 100 people died in the inferno. He had no injury toll but a local intelligence chief said 87 were hurt.
A final death toll from the trade show blaze was expected later on Tuesday.
City legislator Laxmikant Vajpayee blamed the fire on state negligence and said organisers failed to get the appropriate clearance from the fire department before setting up tents in Meerut, 80km north of New Delhi.
”These enclosures were a fire trap. There was only exit and one entry covered with nylon and there was no crowd control,” Vajpayee said.
Grief-stricken mourners massed at a crematorium to carry out final rituals for those killed in the fire while burn victims lay in hospitals in Meerut.
Crowds of relatives still searching for loved ones thronged hospitals where the dead and injured had been brought.
Many of the victims were college girls modeling for the show while others were sales girls for international electrical consumer goods manufacturers.
Paramilitary troops patrolled the city as residents staged angry protests.
”There could be negligence on the part of administration and event managers that led to such a catastrophe,” said senior state home ministry official RM Srivastava.
One of the injured victims, Mohammad Javed, pulled out children, some unconscious, before he lost his strength. Then, ”burning like a torch”, he collapsed into the flaming ruins, said witness Alijan Alvi.
”I saw flames shoot up into the sky, it was all over in seconds, except for the shrieks and shouts,” said Alvi, a paramedic who was unharmed and was on duty Tuesday at Sushila Jaswantrai hospital where Javed was treated.
”His [Javed’s] chances are very, very poor because his vitalorgans appeared to be damaged,” said physician Asif Mohammad.
The fire rapidly engulfed the wooden-floored tents covered with synthetic material, witnesses said, and forensic experts were working to determine what started the blaze.
The shell of the charred enclosure was strewn with music systems, washing machines, computers — and burnt uniforms of sales girls.
”All indications point to a short-circuit in one of the haphazard wiring systems,” said police inspector Alka Sirivastava.
The tubular steel-framed tents could each hold more than 2 000 people and were about 100m long. However, a single entry-exit corridor with stalls on either side made it almost impossible for people to get out.
Seven local hospitals were overwhelmed with the dead and injured. Badly burned survivors were transferred to New Delhi, doctors said.
”We want blood, we want anaesthetics, we need specialised paramedics and we need a whole lot of back-up which this town just does not have,” said Dr RP Rohtagi.
At New Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital, medical superintendent RN Salhan said more than 20 patients had been admitted overnight to a special burns unit.
”All those who have been brought here are in a critical state,” he said, adding they had burns varying between 35% to 95%.
Hundreds gathered outside the barricaded fairgrounds, watching rescue workers and police sift through charred debris for clues to identify the dead.
”My nephew has been missing since the fire broke out and we have scoured all the hospitals but there’s no trace of the 11-year-old boy,” wept Meerut resident KD Srivastava. – Sapa-AFP