A 30-year-old man was charred to death and four injured when a fire broke out in a congested slum cluster in north Delhi in the wee hours today.
Around 350 huts were gutted in the fire that broke out in the Priyadarshini slum on Qutub road in Sadar Bazar area at around 3 am, fire brigade officials said.
Twenty-three fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames which took over two hours to douse the fire, they said.
The deceased has been identified as Bablu Manda (30) while the the injured are Ramal (30), Kajal (28), Rakesh (18) and Lallan Kumar (22).
The condition of two -- Ramal and Lallan -- was stated to be critical, the official said. Ramal and Lallan received 90% burn injuries.
Lallan is admitted with RML hospital while other three are under going treatment in LNJP Hospital.
The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained. "We are yet to ascertain the cause of the fire. It could be due to short circuit in an electricity pole which supplied most of the colony with power," the official said.
The slum is being inhabited by daily wage labourers and vegetable sellers.
