M A I N   N E W S

Jammu hotel blaze kills 4
Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service

Omar orders probe CM Omar Abdullah has ordered an inquiry to be conducted by the Jammu DC An ex gratia of Rs 1.5 lakh has been announced for the kin of the deceased Preliminary reports suggest the fire started in a storeroom on the ground floor

Jammu, May 31
At least four persons, including a police constable, were killed and 10 others suffered injuries after a fire broke out in a hotel near the main bus stand early this morning.

The victims were asleep when the fire broke out in a storeroom on the ground floor of Hotel Neelam, owned by a senior National Conference leader, around 2.30 am. Preliminary reports suggested the victims died of asphyxiation. The fire has exposed poor and faulty fire safety mechanisms in hotels and lodges across Jammu.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has ordered an inquiry into the incident. “Deputy Commissioner Jammu has been ordered to inquire into the circumstances that caused the fire and to ascertain responsibility, if any, for the same,” Omar tweeted after the incident. “My condolences to the families of those killed in the hotel fire in Jammu today and prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured,” he further wrote. Those killed were identified as Dolu Ram, his son Ramesh Kumar, both residents of Billawar, and Rajesh Kumar, a constable. The identity of the fourth victim was yet to be ascertained. Hospital staff said two persons staying in the hotel suffered grievous injuries after they jumped off the three-storey building to save themselves.

“Des Raj (37) of Billawar in Kathua district and Gulshan Kumar (33) of Ambala Cantonment jumped off the building. They have received serious injuries and are being treated,” a doctor at the Government Medical College and Hospital said.