Firewhirl: 50 Killed in Trade Fair Blaze Archives

50 Killed in Trade Fair Blaze

At least 50 people were killed in a fire at a trade fair in India (from The Hindu).

Meerut: At least 50 persons, mostly women and children, died and more than 100 were injured in a fire, which tore through a consumer goods fair at the Victoria Park here on Monday evening.

The fire, suspected to have been caused by short-circuiting, broke out in one of the stalls around 5.30 p.m. when there were an estimated 2,000 visitors at the `Brand India' fair, where multinationals displayed electronic goods and kitchen appliances.

The article didn't have many details, but I'll update this post if I find out anything else about the incident. There was one photo that accompanied the article.

This makes me think about what would happen in the U.S. if a fire started at one of the multitude of trade shows that take place every year.

UPDATE: Here is a story from the Washington Post with a few more details.

Witnesses described a horrific scene, with screaming injured people, three enormous tents destroyed, and rescuers pulling out corpse after corpse. Authorities said most of the corpses were found near the exits.

"Apparently some people were knocked down and crushed in the stampede as they rushed to get out of the inferno," said Rajiv Sabharwal, senior police superintendent for the town.

Tents and fire don't mix. I seem to remember reading about a tent fire in the U.S. that killed a number of people. If I remember right, that incident resulted in some new laws forcing tent makers to use fire resistent materials.

Were the tents in the Meerut incident manufactured with fire resistant materials?

Comments

Posted by: Pradeep Aggarwal at April 12, 2006 04:27 AM