Elderly tailor dies in fire at godown in Southeast Delhi

New Delhi: An 80-year-old man was killed in a fire that broke out at a tent godown in southeast Delhi's Sunlight Colony this afternoon.

The fire broke out around 1.21 pm and eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse it, said a senior officer from Delhi Fire Services.

The deceased, Ratan Singh, worked as tailor at the godown, where the mishap occurred reportedly due to a short circuit, police official said.

"We found him after a police and a fire team entered the building. He was rushed to the AIIMS Trauma Centre hospital by a PCR van where he was declared brought dead, " said the senior police officer.

His body was thereafter sent to the mortuary for post-mortem.

The call was made to the fire department that a fire broke out at 1st floor of New Variety Decorators limited in Jeevan Nagar in Sunlight colony.

The police was immediately informed as well, who reached the spot and started evacuating people from there. Meanwhile, fire tenders reached the spot and started dousing the fire.

Police said preliminary investigations suggest that the fire broke due to a short circuit in one of the air-conditioner in the building.

"Prima facie it seems that the fire broke out due to a short circuit. Further investigation in the matter is on. We are probing the matter from all angles and also investigating whether there was anybody's hand behind the fire or not," said the police official.

The fire is of medium category and the fire tenders are still working to douse the fire that has spread across the four-storeyed building, said the fire department officer.

It is suspected that the elderly man died due to suffocation, but the autopsy will clear the cause for his death, police said.