Jajpur: In a tragic twist of fate, three workers from the same village in Jajpur district were killed in a massive fire at a cotton mill in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
The deceased were identified as Dayanidhi Khuntia, Chinmay Khuntia and Kamesh Singh, all residents of Jamadhara village in Jajpur Sadar police station area. They had been working at the cotton mill, Lotus Level India, for the past three years.
Sources said the fire broke out on the third floor of the mill around 3.30 pm on Saturday. Seven workers, including the three from Odisha, were killed.
“I received a phone call around 5.30 pm on Saturday that a fire had broken out in the factory. We were devastated by the shocking news of his death in the mishap,” said the relative of a deceased worker.
“My son along with two other youths from our area had gone to work in the factory. As fire broke out, they got trapped inside the building and died. We learnt about their deaths at 7 pm,” said the bereaved father of another worker.
Soon after the tragic news came in, the Jajpur Collector in-charge, Indramani Nayak, and the local block development officer (BDO) met the bereaved families and assured them that efforts were on to bring the bodies back to the village.
Nayak informed, “We are inquiring into the mishap and contacted the local administration in Ahmedabad to bring back the bodies of the workers. We have also handed over some compensation to the families.”
