2 workers burned alive after fire engulfs Amazon unit in U’khand

Nainital: Two workers at an Amazon unit were allegedly trapped and burned alive after fire engulfed the e-commerce firm’s warehouse facility in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani late on Friday. Police on Saturday said that prima facie, the fire outbreak was possibly due to a short circuit linked to a vehicle charging unit on the premises and the two workers sleeping inside died due to suffocation. Those dead were identified as Narendra Negi, 35, and Amit Arya, 25 -- both from Haldwani.Haldwani SP (city) Manoj Kumar Katyal said the blaze was first noticed around 11:30pm. He added: “Investigators are reviewing godown footage. Preliminary findings indicate the premises did not have the required fire NOC. The warehouse reportedly had no emergency exits with only a shutter serving as the sole outlet. No formal complaint has been received from the victims’ families. We’re investigating the exact cause from all possible angles.”According to locals, the unit was locked at the time of the incident, trapping the two workers. Firefighters broke open the facility’s shutters, but the blaze spread aggressively inside and by the time they gained access to the entire unit, it had already been reduced to ashes.Neighbours and passersby stepped forward to assist the rescue teams. A few of them suffered burns. An inventory transport tempo and a scooty plugged into a charging outlet at the warehouse were completely destroyed along with other materials. Total damages were yet to be assessed, workers said.Notably, the Amazon unit is situated on Rampur Road in Haldwani’s Jeetpur Negi area, and there are other warehouses in the area. Locals said that workers at an adjacent unit operated by online delivery platform Blinkit were the first to notice the fire and alerted fire brigade personnel.