A fire broke out at a ‘kalpvasi’ tent in the Sector 19 of the temporary township set up for the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj on Sunday, officials cited in a news agency PTI report said, adding that the cause of the blaze was a gas leak.
Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze within 10 minutes and no casualties were reported, the report quoted officials.
Chief Fire Officer (Kumbh) Pramod Sharma said that the fire was reported in a tent set up by Om Prakash Pandey Seva Sansthan and belonged to Rajendra Jaiswal, resident of Karma, Prayagraj.
Upon receiving information, three fire tenders were rushed to the scene, Sharma said, adding that the fire was contained within 10 minutes.
However, the tent was completely gutted, he added.
Fires at Maha Kumbh
This comes two day after a fire broke out at the ISKCON camp of Sector 18 of Maha Kumbh Nagar and spread over to a dozen nearby camps. While no one was injured in the fire, around 20 tents were destroyed in the February 7 fire.
Including the above-mentioned incident, the Maha Kumbh has so far seen three major fire incidents besides multiple minor ones.
On January 19, a massive fire broke out in the Maha Kumbh Mela area’s Sector 19 due to a cylinder blast. While no casualties were reported, the blaze had left over a dozen camps gutted.
On January 25, two cars caught fire in Sector 2 of the Maha Kumbh fair area. No casualties were reported in this incident as well. Short circuit in one car led to the fire which then spread to the other vehicle parked next to it, according to officials.
Apart from these, the Maha Kumbh also saw a massive stampede on January 29 in which at least 30 people died.
The Maha Kumbh, which started on January 13, will conclude on February 26.
