Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 12: A major fire today entirely gutted prestigious Department of Convergent Journalism block of Central University of Kashmir (CUK) at its Nowgam campus here while seven students and faculty members sustained injuries and scores of others were rescued.
Vice Chancellor, CUK, Prof Mehraj-ud-Din Mir told Excelsior that at around 11:55 am, fire broke out inside the studio of Department of Convergent Journalism which is situated in third floor of the building. He said lots of students and faculty members were present on third, fourth and fifth floors of the CUK building and due to smoke, they were trapped.
“Due to the makeup of the Department’s studio, there was heavy smoke inside the floors of the CuK building. However, the staff members at the earliest rescued scores of trapped students and staffers. Later men from Fire and Emergency Services (F&ES) and police also joined them. Due to smoke, three-four teachers fell unconscious and they were rushed to JVC Hospital for treatment.
“Seven students and staffers suffered minor injuries, one of them had head wound due to glass breakage but they were given treatment and are all alright,” he said. The Vice Chancellor said that the studio of the Journalism Department has been completely damaged and the losses are yet to be estimated. He said the fire apparently broke out due to short circuit.
“However, we have constituted a committee to probe the blaze reason and to assess the magnitude of damage. We have also registered an FIR with police,” he said and expressed satisfaction over the rescue operation. “Thank God there was no loss of life and I express my gratitude to all those, particularly staffers, who did a commendable job by rescuing trapped people,” the Vice-Chancellor added.
A senior F&ES official told Excelsior that 5-15 fire tenders were pressed into service at CUK today. He said besides fire tenders, they also pressed bronto skylift into service and used ladder in rescue operation. “It was a difficult operation. We rescued 9 students and one outsider from third storey, where from fire raged,” he said, adding that the building was engulfed in smoke. “A major tragedy was averted by timely action today,” the official added.
The F&ES official revealed that the CUK campus at Nowgam was constructed without getting fire clearance from their department. “Like most of the educational institutes, they have not sought any fire clearance from us,” he said, adding: “the building has no safety measures and could result in some major tragedy, if not acted on time.” He added that the timely action prevented fire from engulfing entire building.
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