2 Dead In East Delhi Factory Fire, 2 Hurt

New Delhi: Two men died and several were injured after a fire broke out in a house allegedly operating a small-scale battery unit in the Old Govindpura area in east Delhi's Shahdara, on Tuesday night.

At least ten people were reportedly stuck inside the building when the blaze started, police said.

Delhi Fire Service (DFS) said a call regarding the fire came around 8.45pm. "Immediately, 6 fire tenders were deployed along with 25 firefighters to douse the flames," a senior DFS official said.

"The fire was in a building in Band Gali in Old Govindpura. The structure had a ground floor plus three upper floors. The fire reportedly started on the first floor, which had a space being used as a small-scale facility to store and assemble battery cells," the fire official added.

According to police, six persons were rescued by police and fire officials. "Four others were pulled out with injuries and rushed to Dr Hedgewar Hospital. Two of them, Tanveer, 28, and Nusrat, both residents of Govindpura, were declared brought dead. The other two, Faizal of Khureji Khas and 18-year-old Asif, are under treatment and stable," a senior police officer said.

A senior fire official said that most of those rescued were allegedly labourers of the unit. "The firefighting mission was intense. The fire involved batteries which are highly flammable. There was a lack of ventilation, and many people were trapped inside. All rescues had to be carried out through the main and only entrance," DFS assistant divisional officer (ADO) Deepak Hooda, who was involved in the firefighting operation, said.

The operation lasted over two hours, and the blaze was doused around 11pm.

"Our SHO, along with staff, reached the spot promptly and worked alongside the fire team to evacuate people," the officer added. Fire officials confirmed that small battery cells were stored in the unit. They said an electrical problem may have triggered the blaze. However, police are still determining whether the premises functioned purely as a storage facility or as a factory.

"This is under investigation. It appears to be an informal small-scale setup, operating out of a residential building," the officer said.

On June 25, a fire tore through an illegally run factory inside a four-storey residential building in Rithala, killing four people and injuring at least three. The unit had no fire exits, alarms, or extinguishers and was crammed into a narrow bylane with flammable materials stacked floor-to-ceiling. The blaze engulfed the structure, trapping workers inside.