280 cottages made of thatch and bamboo were burnt to ashes due to fire in the camp of Shrikarpatra Dham Varanasi and Geeta Press Gorakhpur in Sector 19 of Mahakumbh Mela area of Prayagraj. 13 LPG cylinders kept in these cottages also burst in the fire and created chaos. During this, five bikes and cash worth Rs 5 lakh were also burnt. Three devotees from Haryana, Siliguri and Pratapgarh suffered burn injuries while two people were injured in the stampede.
After the fire was extinguished, CM Yogi Adityanath also reached the spot along with three ministers. On the other hand, the fair administration has said that 40 huts and six tents have been burnt. The loss in the incident is estimated to be more than Rs 2.5 crore.
There is a camp of Akhil Bharatiya Dharma Sangh, Shrikarpatra Dham Varanasi and Geeta Press Gorakhpur between the new and old railway bridge on Mori Marg near Pipa bridge number 12 in Sector 19. In this camp spread over about five thousand square feet, half of the devotees associated with Shrikarpatra Dham and the remaining part of Geeta Press were staying in about 300 cottages.
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A massive fire broke out in the camp of Geeta Press in Sector 19 located in the Mahakumbh Mela area – Photo: Shiv Tripathi
13 LPG cylinders kept in the cottages also kept exploding.
On Sunday afternoon, around 4 pm, smoke started rising from the cottage of Pawan Tripathi, a devotee of Shrikarpatra Dham. Before anyone could understand anything, flames started rising from the cottage. When the people present in the camp saw this, they started making noise. People also ran with water to extinguish the fire. Within no time the fire spread and engulfed other cottages as well. Within a few minutes, 280 cottages started burning and high flames started rising. 13 LPG cylinders kept in these cottages also kept exploding.
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A massive fire broke out in the camp of Geeta Press in Sector 19 located in the Mahakumbh Mela area – Photo: Shiv Tripathi
During this time, the people who were in the cottage ran outside screaming. On receiving the information, 35 small and big fire brigade vehicles reached the spot one after the other, first from the fire stations located in Sector 19 and then from other sectors. Along with the fire service and police, NDRF also arrived and started the rescue work. After about an hour of hard work the fire could be controlled but by then 280 cottages had been burnt.
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A massive fire broke out in the camp of Geeta Press in Sector 19 located in the Mahakumbh Mela area. – Photo: Shiv Tripathi
30 feet high flames rose, intermittent explosions shook the fair
Flames 30 feet high rose up during the fire accident at the camp of Shrikarpatra Dham-Varanasi and Geeta Press Gorakhpur. The magnitude of the incident can be gauged from the fact that within a few minutes the entire camp with an area of five thousand square feet was engulfed in fire from all sides.
The devotees present inside ran outside screaming. On the other hand, 13 LPG cylinders kept in cottages one after the other exploded, causing panic among the passersby. Smoke first started coming from the west side of the camp around 4 pm. After some time, the fire spread from one cottage and engulfed all the neighboring cottages.
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A massive fire broke out in the camp of Geeta Press in Sector 19 located in the Mahakumbh Mela area – Photo: Shiv Tripathi
Flames started rising 30-30 feet high
The fire then began moving toward the cottages on the east side. Barely seven to eight minutes had passed when the fire engulfed all the cottages on the eastern side of the camp. The situation was such that this camp, built in an area of five thousand square meters, was completely engulfed in fire within 15 minutes. Due to the burning of several cottages simultaneously, the situation was such that flames 30-30 feet high started rising.
