Agartala: As many as four persons died after a fire broke out inside the chimney of a brick kiln, causing it to collapse at Kamalpur in Tripura’s Dhalai district, officials said on Wednesday.
Three died on the spot, while the fourth passed away at Dhalai District Hospital.
The deceased have been identified as Subal Debnath (55), Pinku Shil (37), Anil Goutam (49), and Sajal Malakar (40). Their bodies will be handed over to their families after completion of medical formalities.
Chief Minister Manik Saha expressed grief over the tragic incident on social media, conveying condolences to the bereaved families and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured.
According to police, three people sustained serious injuries. “Among the injured, the doctor said that one patient’s condition is critical, while the remaining two are responding to treatment and are likely to be discharged within a couple of days,” said SDPO Kamalpur, S. Debbarma.
When asked about the cause of the incident, Debbarma said, “No one knows how the incident occurred. We were fully occupied with rescue work immediately afterward. A police complaint is being registered, and an investigation will follow to ascertain the main reason behind the collapse.”
Local sources stated that with the onset of winter, brick kilns across the state have started operations. Since Tripura experiences rainfall throughout the year except for a three- to four-month winter window, most brick kilns operate primarily during this dry period. The ABC Brick Industry in Kamalpur had only recently resumed work.
Some sources alleged that the incident may have been caused by methane accumulation inside the chimney during the period it remained inactive.
However, police have yet to release any official statement on the matter.
Related
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘609578899588292’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
