At least 39 people have died and more than 100 have suffered injuries in fire incidents in the national Capital so far this year, officials data on Thursday. According to data released by the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), 16 people lost their lives in fire in January, another 16 in February and seven in March till Thursday. Fire incidents led to 51 injuries in January, 42 in February and 14 until March 14, it stated.
From January 1 to March 14, the DFS has received 2,682 fire-related calls. On Thursday, two children and a married couple died due to suffocation after a massive fire broke out in a residential building in the Shastri Nagar area of Delhi's Shahdara.
In another major incident, 11 people died in an explosion and subsequent blaze in a paint factory at Dayalpur market in outer Delhi's Alipur. Four people were injured in the fire that broke out on February 15.
The charred bodies of the 11 victims, 10 men and a woman, were recovered from the factory, which also houses chemical godowns.
The fire, which was preceded by a blast, had spread to nearby buildings, including a drug rehabilitation centre and eight shops. A police constable also sustained injuries, including burns, in the blaze.
In another incident in February, an 83-year-old woman died and her granddaughter sustained injuries after they jumped off the fourth floor of a residential building in southwest Delhi's Dwarka when a fire broke out in their apartment.
