Officers were horrified to see the scene of massacre in the forest, burnt forest worker narrated his ordeal
Nainital: Four personnel died in a fire at Binsar Sanctuary in Almora on Thursday, while four people sustained burn injuries. When an employee who got burnt in the fire while being taken to the hospital, told about this orgy of death in the forest, the forest workers got goosebumps.
When the officers reached the spot on the news that the forester and the team accompanying him were trapped in a fire in the Binsar forest, they were horrified. The vehicle was burnt and the bodies of four companions were lying nearby. At some distance away, four other companions who were caught in the fire were seen trying unsuccessfully to save themselves from the fire. The officers and employees who reached the spot quickly rescued the four employees from the circle of fire and immediately sent them to the hospital. Forest department officials along with NDRF personnel reached the spot and sent the bodies of the deceased comrades to the post-mortem house.
While being taken to the hospital, when an employee, who was burnt in the fire, while controlling his breathing, told about the orgy of death in the forest, the forest workers got goosebumps after hearing his ordeal. The scorched forest worker would sometimes inquire about the well-being of his colleagues and sometimes would request his family members to come near him. Seeing his condition, the forest workers’ eyes filled with tears and they consoled him that everything would be fine and took him to the hospital.
In the forest fire incident that took place in Binsar Sanctuary on Thursday, four people were burnt alive while four were seriously burnt. When other forest personnel were bringing the injured forest personnel to Almora for treatment, a burnt forest personnel courageously narrated his ordeal. He told that on receiving information about the fire, he along with seven other colleagues reached the spot in a department vehicle. After getting down from the vehicle, he saw that fire was coming upwards from the slope below the road. At that time, some of the eight forest personnel were making strategies to extinguish the fire and some were taking out their belongings from the vehicle. Then flames surrounded them from all sides. There was no hope left for survival. All the employees kept trying to escape from the flames but the fire was so terrible that even the vehicle parked on the road got affected by it. One by one everyone started disappearing in a cloud of smoke and darkness spread before his eyes.
He has no idea what happened after this. When he regained consciousness in the ambulance, he would sometimes inquire about the well-being of his companions in a wavering voice and sometimes request his family members to come near him. At times, when the pain from his wounds became unbearable, he would start screaming. The journey of about an hour from the spot to the hospital was very difficult for the other forest personnel traveling in the vehicle.
The forest personnel kept praying to God for the four injured to reach the hospital safely. Although all four injured were taken to the base hospital, but as the condition of two was critical, the doctors referred them to Haldwani. Everyone was just praying that the lives of their friends would be saved.Late night all four injured reached STH by Ambulance. For injured people burnt in the forest fire in Almora were brought to Sushila Tiwari Hospital by ambulance late at night. According to doctors, the condition of one of the injured is critical, he has suffered more than 82 percent burns. On the other hand, three injured have suffered more than 40 percent burns. The district administration was on alert on the information about the arrival of forest personnel and PRD soldiers burnt in the forest fire from Almora to Haldwani. First of all, the injured was brought at 10 pm, followed by two more injured burnt by fire in separate ambulances half an hour later. Meanwhile, the fourth injured person was brought at 11:15 pm. None of the injured were in a position to speak.
City Magistrate AP Vajpayee quoted Principal Dr. Arun Joshi as saying that Krishna Kumar, 44, a fire watcher, resident of Bhetuli Almora, suffered 82 percent burns. Their condition remains worrying. On the other hand, Kailash Bhatt (45), daily wage laborer, resident of Ghaneli Almora, got 42% burns, Kundan Singh (42), PRD jawan, resident of Khakri, got 40% burns, while Bhagwat Singh (36), driver, resident of Bhetuli Ayarpani, got 50% burns. During this time, Almora MLA Manoj Tiwari also reached Sushila Tiwari. He saw the four people burnt in the fire and spoke to the Principal of Sushila Tiwari Hospital.
There was chaos among the relatives of the Deceased. When the family members got information about the personnel killed in the forest fire incident in Binsar, there was an uproar among them. On Thursday morning, he left home for his duty as usual. The villagers are somehow managing the families of the deceased. While the relatives of the seriously burnt personnel have reached Almora to see them.
