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Five children killed in Delhi hutment fire

An early morning blaze in a shanty cluster inhabited by scrap-pickers killed five children, including one five months old, in New Delhi today.

The police and Delhi Fire Service officials said the fire broke out at about 0630 hours in a cluster of jhuggis behind Masoodpur village near Vasant Kunj in South Delhi. Four huts were reduced to cinders and five children sleeping in them were consumed by the flames.

The victims were identified as Khalida (four years), Mohamed Karim (12), Abu Bakar (six), Rahima (two) and Julika (five months). Their parents, who reportedly earn their livelihood picking scrap, had gone out on their rounds, leaving the children asleep in the hut.

The authorities came to know about the fire only around 0900 hours by which time the blaze had died down after gutting the four huts, the police said.

While the cause of the fire had not yet been ascertained, the police say it could have been started by a stray electric spark from an illegal connection.

A case had been registered under Section 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code, and further investigations are on. The bodies of the five children have been taken to Safdarjung Hospital for post-mortem, officials at the Vasant Kunj police station said.

UNI

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