Bawana Fire: Screams echo through alleys as charred bodies arrive home

The silence of a Sunday afternoon was broken by the heart-wrenching screams of the residents of outer Delhi's Metro Vihar JJ Colony when six ambulances arrived at around 1:30 pm.

Painful wails echoed the narrow alleys with a hapless mother crying uncontrollably as her daughter's body was brought in. A few metres away, a daughter stared into nothingness, as the corpse of her mother also arrived.

At Holmbi Kalan area of Metro Vihar phase-II, 16-year-old Sanjana fainted as she saw people arriving with the dead body of her sister, Sonam. The 23-year-old is among the 17 people who died in a fire that ripped through a firecracker warehouse in north Delhi's Bawana industrial area on Saturday evening. "Let me see my sister's face for the last time," cried Sanjana, as she regained her consciousness.

She, however, fainted again when she saw the burnt face of her sister. "She was close to her sister. She had insisted her not to go to work on Saturday. But who knew what was in store," says Sonam's inconsolable aunt, Lakshmi.

Few meters away, in a crumbling lane of Metro Vihar phase-I, four bodies arrived at the same time. "We have never witnessed this before. Four people from our area were charred to death and still, the authorities are passing the buck to each other," rued Shankar, uncle of Baby Devi, a victim.

Sitting outside the next house, was inconsolable Phoolmati, mother of Rita, 18, the youngest victim of the tragedy. "She has not uttered even a word since she has arrived from the hospital. She is motionless," says Sukhmati, Rita's aunt.

Just a few steps ahead lies the body of Madina, 55, mother of two mentally-challenged teenagers. "Her children don't even eat without her. How will they survive now?" says her husband Nasruddin, surrounded by relatives and neighbours.

Meanwhile, the locals demanded strict action against the warehouse owners. "They should be hanged in this alley where four dead bodies are lying because of their greed. They should not be spared," shouts Shanta Devi, an octogenarian.

MAKEN DEMANDS JUDICIAL PROBE

• Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken on Sunday visited the site of the tragic fire incident in Bawana that claimed 17 lives and demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
   
• He also questioned Delhi government agencies and said their role in the tragedy should be probed. “We demand a judicial probe. The role of DSIIDC and the pollution department cannot be investigated impartially in a magisterial inquiry.”