Mundka blaze: Absconding owner of building resided on top floor; Death toll likely to go up

The death toll in the Mundka blaze may further increase as rescue teams have found more charred remains from the second floor of the ill-fated four-storey building. Fatalities currently stand at 27.

"The death toll may likely go up," Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg told IANS on Saturday. The top fire department official also shared a picture of the remains that were found just minutes ago by the NDRF team present at the scene of the blaze that erupted on Friday.

As many as 27 people were killed in the major fire incident on Friday afternoon while 12 sustained injuries.

The bodies that were recovered fare yet to be identified and the help of forensic teams will be utilised for the purpose. 

The owner of the ill-fated multi-storey building in Mundka, where a major fire broke out on Friday, resided on the top floor and went absconding after the incident, an official said on Saturday.

The police revealed the identity of the owner as Manish Lakra, however, it is yet to be learnt whether he was present in the building at the time of the incident. "His whereabouts are still unknown," the official said, adding searches are on to nab him.

Most of the people were present on the second floor of the building at the time of the incident. The fire first broke out on the first floor of the building which houses a CCTV and router manufacturing company.

The police have detained the owners of that company, identified as Harish Goel and Varun Goel and their antecedents are being examined.

As many as 27 people were killed in the major fire incident while 12 sustained injuries. The reason being most of the bodies were burnt to such an extent that, even it was difficult to establish whether charred remains were of a man or a woman.

Scenes of chaos prevailed for the whole night at the Sanjay Gandhi hospital where the bodies from the incident were shifted and the relatives of the missing persons kept arriving to locate their loved ones. As per the latest reports, the NDRF teams are still conducting the search operation.