Four die in fire mishap

Four members of a family, including a
baby, died when their house caught fire in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir today.
Fire broke out in the house of one Abdul Rashid at Bhagwa village of Doda district due to a short circuit around 0200 hours, police officials said.
In the fire incident, the house was gutted resulting in death of all four members of the family, they said.
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The smoke emanating from the unit was stinking and very toxic, police said.

There were seven sub-units making the chemicals.
While officials of the factory claimed that 25 to 30 people were working in the unit at the time of the fire, locals said around 50 persons were present there.

(REOPENS MDS4)
There was no clarity on the exact number of casualty till late tonight since the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition, police and officials said.
Some reports put the toll at as high as 20, but there was no official confirmation.
A senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "We are ourselves not sure about the casualty because the bodies are so mutilated and beyond recognition due to the impact of the blast."
A man helping the local revenue officials said that the bodies of the victims had been blown to pieces and strewn in far off places from the site and they had to collect and match them before arriving at the toll.

The accident took place when the change of shift was taking place between the night shift personnel and day duty staff and this added to the difficulty in reaching a conclusion on the number of persons present.
People from the surrounding villages blocked the road demanding the presence of senior officials.
Some of them said authorities must consider shifting the unit from the locality in view of safety factor.
District Collector Palanisamy and Superintendent of Police Senthilkumar, Turaiyur MLA Stalin Kumar visited the spot.
The factory owner Vetrivel was absconding, police said adding further investigation was on.