Person Charred to Death in Darjeeling Fire

Wepen, Darjeeling, June 1, 2019: A fire broke out at a tea store in the heart of Darjeeling town late at night on Friday. An unidentified person was charred to death in the fire.

The incident occurred at around 11:40 pm on Friday. “I was going home from mu Hotel when I saw smoke bellowing out from under the shutters of Nathmulls Tea. I immediately called up the police, fire brigade and the owners” stated Biswajit Saha, a hotelier.

The store is located on Ladenla Road in the commercial hub of the town. Two fire engines arrived. Commercial water tankers were also pressed into service.

At around 4pm the fire was brought under control. In the wee hours of the morning a charred deadbody of a man was recovered from under the debris from the shed. The shed is believed to be the place from where the fire had broken out.

“We have not yet ascertained the exact cause of the fire. However we feel that the fire broke out from a shed in the floor below the store. They used to dump empty tea chests and other discarded in this shed” stated Bharat Lama Sherpa, Fire Officer. The firefighters were present from around 12.10 am to 5 am Saturday.

The police later recovered the dead. “The deadbody is unidentified. Prima facie the man was a vagabond and used to spend the nights in this shed. There was no electricity in the shed, nor were there windows. Just a shed built out of wood and old tin sheets. The victim could have been inebriated and could be smoking inside the shed. No one has claimed his body yet. We are investigating.” stated TS Nath, Inspector-in-charge, Darjeeling Sadar police station.

The tea store was damaged. “We lost a minimum of 2000 kg of tea. Tea was burnt. The remaining tea got spoilt by the water used for extinguishing the fire. It will take some time to restart the store” stated Girish Sarda, one of the owners of the store.