Uttarakhand: Death toll in Almora forest fire incident rises to 5
On June 13, four forest personnel were killed in the forest fire incident in the Uttarakhand district’s Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary
The death toll in the Almora forest fire incident rose to five on Wednesday after one of the four injured in the incident succumbed to injuries at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.
On June 13, four forest personnel were killed in the forest fire incident in the Uttarakhand district’s Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had insisted that the four injured forest personnel be shifted to AIIMS from the Sushila Tiwari Government Hospital in Haldwani the very next day.
“Twenty-one-year-old Krishna Kumar, who had sustained 70% burn injuries in the incident and worked as a fire watcher, passed away at 1.37pm today. Doctors have attributed his cause of death to septic shock with multi-organ dysfunction,” Almora divisional forest officer (DFO) Deepak Singh said.
Singh said the other three injured people are out of danger. “But in burn injuries, the infections later can complicate things.”
The four deceased were identified as Dewan Ram (35), a forest department daily wager, Karan Arya (21), a fire watcher, Trilok Mehta (56), forest beat officer of Binsar Range, and Puran Singh (52), a Prantiya Rakshak Dal (PRD) jawan.
The three injured survivors – Bhagat Singh Bhoj (38), forest department driver, Kailash Bhatt (44), forest department daily wager and Kundan Negi (44), PRD jawan – sustained 40-50 % burn injuries.
The fire broke out around 3.30pm in the Civil Soyam Forest Division of Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary in Almora district on June 13.
On Dhami’s directions, the forest department suspended DFO (Civil Soyam) in-charge Dhruv Singh Martolia, Conservator of Forests, North Kumaon Circle Koko Rose and attached Chief Conservator of Forests (Kumaon) PK Patro to the department headquarters.
The five deaths in Almora have taken the toll from forest fires in the state to 11 this year.
This is the second such incident in Almora this year. On May 3, four labourers employed by an individual were killed while trying to douse a forest fire in Someshwar tehsil.
Uttarakhand reported 14 forest fire incidents on Tuesday, including 11 in the Garhwal region, 1 in the Kumaon region and 2 in wildlife administrative areas, according to forest department data. Around 27.3 hectares of forest land were damaged in these 14 forest fires.
According to Nishant Verma, additional principal chief conservator of forests and state nodal officer for forest fires, the state has reported 1,265 forest fires between November 1 last year and June 18. Of these, 549 were in the Garhwal region, 602 in Kumaon and 114 in wildlife administrative regions. These fires cumulatively destroyed 1,747.7 hectares of forest land.
“Of 1,747.7 hectares of forest land damaged in forest fires this year, 719.3 hectares were in Garhwal, 886.03 hectares in Kumaon and 142.3 hectares in wildlife administrative regions,” he said.