Four forest workers were killed and four were injured while extinguishing a fire at the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary under the Civil Soyam Forest Division in the Almora district of Uttarakhand, officials said on Thursday.

The deceased were identified as Binsar Range Forest 'Beat' Officer Trilok Singh Mehta, 'Fire Watcher' Karan Arya, Provincial Armed Constabulary Jawan Puran Singh and daily wage worker Diwan Ram, they said.

According to Civil Soyam Forest Divisional Officer Dhruv Singh Martolia, the incident occurred around 3.45 pm when eight forest workers were sent to extinguish a fire that had broken out at the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary.

Martolia said that as soon as the team got down from their vehicle, the fire escalated due to strong winds and four of the workers were charred to death. Meanwhile, the other workers were injured and rushed to Haldwani Base Hospital for treatment.

In a post on X, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, "Very heartbreaking news has been received about the death of 4 forest workers due to forest fire in Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary. In this hour of grief, our government stands with the families of the deceased and is committed to provide all possible help. An ex-gratia amount of Rs 10 lakh has been announced to the families of each deceased."

"In a high-level meeting with the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary and Chief Conservator of Forests (HoFF), instructions were given to immediately control the forest fire in Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary with the help of Air Force, by spraying water on the affected forest area using helicopters and other necessary resources as before and to control the fire as quickly as possible," he added.

Special Secretary to the Chief Minister, Shri Parag Madhukar Dhakate said that the situation is being monitored closely. The post-mortem of the deceased is being conducted.

Last month, a resin factory in Almora district was engulfed in forest fire and three workers trying to extinguish the fire were killed.

Due to hot and dry weather, forest fires have started raging again in Uttarakhand. According to the Uttarakhand forest fire bulletin, seven incidents were reported in the last 24 hours in which 4.50 hectares of forest were affected.

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