Forty-five-year-old Sunita and Roop Prakash (24), who survived the Bawana fire tragedy, had to jump from the second floor of the building which was ripped by a massive blaze, in which 17 people were killed on Saturday, 20 January.
However, the two labourers, who were hardly a week into their jobs as firecracker packagers, received major injuries, with Prakash fracturing his legs and Sunita breaking her hip bone.
The fire occurred on Saturday evening at a firecracker storage unit at the ground floor of the two-storey building in outer Delhi's Bawana industrial area. The owner was arrested by the Delhi police on 21 January.
From Uttar Pradesh's Unna district, Prakash had started working at the unit three to four days ago. His cousins Rohit and Suraj Singh, who were already labourers there, died in the fire.
"I was getting Rs 9,000 for working there. We were into packaging the crackers that was brought from outside. On Sunday, when the smoke spread inside the unit, I was on the first floor," he recalled on Sunday.
Prakash tried to run towards the ground floor, but after he saw the dense smoke there, he ran upstairs and decided to jump and asked Sunita to follow.
Though Sunita's family is thankful that she survived the fire, they are worried about her injuries.
Her son Mishri Lal said that his mother was referred to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital from the Maharishi Valmiki Hospital earlier on Monday, along with Prakash.
"She has fractured her hip bone, but doctors are not telling us about her condition. She is badly injured, but we are thankful to God that she is alive," he said.
Lal said that his mother told him that the workers did not realise when the fire broke out.
"My mother told me that she was working on the second floor when smoke started engulfing the premises. All the workers started panicking and running. She managed to get outside where Prakash asked her to jump to save her life," he said.
Lal said that the family had moved to Delhi from Sitapur five days ago for better opportunities.
"My mother had started working a couple of days ago. She had told us that she used to package things. We did not know that she was packing firecrackers," Lal said.
Now that Sunita is injured, Lal said that he has to support the family.
"My father is differently-abled and I have two younger siblings. I work at a carton manufacturing unit. I have to stay strong during this time. I still do not know whether my mother will recover fully or not since the doctors are not telling us anything," he said.
Delhi Police Arrests Owner; Case Transferred to Crime Branch
The Delhi Police has arrested a 49-year-old Manoj Jain, who was running the firecracker plant in Bawana, where 17 people died in a massive blaze on Saturday.
A probe revealed it was a factory of “cold firecrackers” used in stage shows and Holi celebrations, said Rajneesh Gupta, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini).
Firecracker packages found at the site suggest the same, he said. Jain had rented the factory from 1 January, the DCP said.
Police said Jain was out of Delhi and was apprehended on Sunday while returning from the airport. During interrogation, he revealed that he was paying Rs 25,000 as rent for the premises.
Even though police suspect that Jain was running the factory in partnership with his friend Lalit Goel, he claimed that he was running it alone.
The case was transferred to the Crime Branch that will look into the rent agreement on Sunday.
Locals in Bawana alleged that the facility was flouting norms and crackers were being manufactured illegally. They claimed that workers came in two shifts and were made to work with the doors locked.
However, the claim was dismissed by Delhi Fire Services.
One of the injured labourers told police that the firecrackers were brought from outside and were only packed at the unit.
Of the 17 killed, 10 were women. Fourteen bodies have been identified so far.
Police said an FIR had been under IPC sections relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible material. The maximum punishment under the sections is 10 years.
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