Rajkot Gaming Zone Incident: Welding sparks may have caused fire
Rajkot : A CCTV footage is being circulated on social media in which it is being speculated that the sparks from welding initiated major fire at Gujarat’s Rajkot gaming zone, where 28 people, including nine children, were killed on Saturday.
The footage, which could not be verified immediately, shows that the fire spread out of sparks emitted during the welding. Some of the sparks went till a pile of plastic lying nearby that caught fire and turned impossible to contain despite several efforts from the nearby workers.
As the fire spread, a temporary structure in the facility collapsed near the entrance blocking path for people to escape. There was only one emergency exit due to which most of the people got trapped in fire.
According to reports, the police has registered a case against six partners of the gaming zone. It has also been learned that they were operating the area without a valid licence. Two people - the owner and the manager of the site - have been arrested and it has been found that they did not had a fire safety certificate either.
After the incident, the state police chief has issued instructions that all the gaming zones in the state which are being operated without fire safety permissions should be closed. For this, a special investigation team has been formed and is expected to submit its report within 72 hours.
Meanwhile, a special bench of Gujarat High Court that took suo motu cognizance of the matter said it is a "man-made disaster".
