Odisha: 100 suffer burns on Diwali night in mishaps caused by crackers, lamps

Bhubaneswar: Over 100 people including women and children were treated at different hospitals in Odisha after suffering burn injuries while celebrating Diwali, as a number of fire incidents caused by crackers and lamps were reported from various parts of the state, officials said.

The casualty department of the state-run Capital Hospital here remained busy all along Sunday night as at least 31 patients including 29 minor boys and girls came for treatment due to burn injuries sustained while bursting crackers, Deputy Superintendent of the facility Dr Dhanajay Das said. “Many children have suffered burns in mishaps during Diwali celebrations.

They were treated by a special team of doctors and paramedics,” Das said. Most of them were released after preliminary treatment as their condition was not serious. Das said one patient was admitted to the orthopaedics department of the hospital while another was referred to a hospital in Cuttack. Similar reports were also received from Cuttack and other district headquarters hospitals across the state, a health department official said. Fire incidents also occurred in various parts of the state. A report from Rourkela said that a fire broke out in a two-storey building at Koel Nagar where a woman and her daughter were trapped for some time in the early hours of Monday. Fire service officials said that the source of the blaze was a “Diya” (earthen lamp) which was lit on Sunday night on the occasion of Diwali.

A similar fire mishap was reported on the third floor of a residential building at Khetrajpur in Sambalpur town. A gunny godown in the area was also reduced to ashes as sparks from crackers caused a fire on Diwali night. A house at the Santoshimandirpada area in Nuapada district was also gutted due to bursting of crackers. Similarly, a report from Baripada in Mayurbhanj district said that a fire broke out at a tent house godown at Kali Mandir Sahi on Sunday evening. The fire, suspected to have been caused by a sky lantern, damaged items worth lakhs of rupees, the police said. In Jajpur, six people, including three children and a woman, also suffered burn injuries while bursting firecrackers at Vyasanagar and Korei areas. Two houses in a slum near Dala overbridge under Vyasanagar municipality also caught fire in a cracker mishap on Sunday evening, police said.