Fire broke out at multi-storey building's second floor of 'Ashirwad Tower' in the Joraphatak area in Dhanbad, on January 31. At least 14 people including women and children, were charred to death. Initial reports suggest that a curtain caught fire from the flames of an earthen lamp in one of the flats of the building.
18 Injured people were sent to a private hospital and most of them faced suffocation problems they were released at night. The dead bodies were kept in a mortuary at Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College for post-mortem.
The rescue operation was completed late on Tuesday. The health facility supplied water to douse the blaze and joined the rescue operation. The multi-storey building has been cordoned off, and investigations are on to ascertain the exact cause of the fire.
Family members, who lost their near and dear ones in a devastating fire were finding it difficult to identify charred bodies at the hospital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) to the next kin of each deceased who lost their lives in the accident. PM Modi has also announced that an amount of Rs 50,000 each has also been given to those who ere injured.
Around 15 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames. Police personnel have been deployed outside the multi-storey towers.