Four burnt alive in fire at illegal scrap godown in Neemrana, two missing

Jaipur: Four people, including two children, were burnt alive and a woman was critically injured after a fire engulfed an illegal scrap warehouse in Neemrana, Kotputli-Behror district, on Friday evening, with two more workers reported missing.

The blaze broke out around 5 p.m. when labourers inside the godown were breaking discarded perfume bottles, releasing a spirit-like flammable chemical, police said. A pickup driver who had arrived to load scrap allegedly lit a beedi at the spot and tossed the burning matchstick, igniting the leaking chemical and setting off the fire.

Drums of chemical stored inside the warehouse began bursting one after another as the flames spread, with locals reporting around five blasts within the godown. Flames were visible from a kilometre away and thick black smoke hung over surrounding homes for several hours.

Around seven men, women and children were inside the warehouse when the fire broke out. Two minors and a woman tried to take shelter in the rear portion of the structure, where less scrap was stored, but molten pillars of the tin shed collapsed on them as the heat intensified, while plastic waste below caught fire and trapped them inside.

All four deceased are believed to be migrant workers from Jharkhand. Their bodies, recovered after the blaze was brought under control, have been kept at the Behror district hospital and will be identified through DNA testing. The injured woman is in serious condition, while two other workers from the godown remain unaccounted for.

Police said the warehouse was running on agricultural land that had been rented by a scrap dealer named Karan Singh, son of Maman Singh, and that authorities are still gathering information about the actual landowner. It took firefighters nearly four hours to bring the blaze under control. Residents alleged that they had previously complained to the administration about the illegal godown, but no action was taken to shut it down.