ALLAHABAD (TIP): One personhas died in a fire that broke outearly on February 15 morning atthe Maha Kumbh Mela inAllahabad. An amateur eyewitnessvideo shows a raging blaze and thetrail of destruction it left behind atthe Nirmal Akhada in sector 4 ofthe mela venue.Almost 30 make-shift tents set upto house pilgrims were gutted bythe fire that broke out at around 2am. It has since been doused.
“Assoon as we saw the fire break out,we all rushed out of our tents. Thathelped keep casualties to theminimum,” an eyewitness said.Two people have sustained minorinjuries.Senior Superintendent of PoliceRKS Rathore said that prima faciethe fire was caused by a shortcircuit and the person who gotkilled was “probably fast asleep andcould not run out of his tent beforegetting engulfed by the flames”.
Lakhs of devotees are present atsangam – the holy confluence of theGanga, Yamuna, and mythicalSaraswati rivers in Allahabad – onthe occasion of Basant Panchamitoday, an auspicious day to take aholy dip or snan. This is also thelast of the three auspicious shahisnans at this edition of the MahaKumbh.