Srinagar, Nov 11: At least three bodies suspected to be non-locals were recovered from the fire incident in Dal Lake in early hours on Saturday, officials said.
Five houseboats and over a dozen residential structures were gutted in the fire incident.
An official of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) said that they have recovered three bodies from the fire incident site at Dal Lake during searches. However, their identity was not yet confirmed.
“We are trying to ascertain their identity, but we suspect they are non-locals,” he said.
Earlier, Fire and Emergency officials said that fire broke out at 5 am in one of the houseboats near the Ghat number 9 in the Dal Lake and engulfed other nearby houseboats and other wooden residential structures.
The fire tenders were rushed from the river station Nehru Park, Batmaloo and Gawkadal to douse the leaping flames, they said.
Before the fire could be controlled, five houseboats and more than a dozen wooden residential structures were gutted in the incident.
The houseboats which were gutted in the fire incident were Safeena, Young Safeena, New Safeena, Lala Rukah and London house.
The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, they said. The loss to the property is said to be in crores of rupees.
Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Aijaz Asad who visited the site said that a fire incident occurred at Ghat No 9 in Dal Lake during which five houseboats and adjoining residential hutments were gutted. He said as soon as the fire incident broke out, the teams of SDRF, Kashmir police and Fire and Emergency agencies went into action and tried to douse the fire.
Asad said the tourists staying in these houseboats and residents were first rescued and taken to the safer places.
The Deputy Commissioner said that four adjoining houseboats were also relocated to save them from being caught in the fire. He said “the district administration and the government are with the fire victims and expressing our sorrow over the incident.
Asad assured that all the possible help from the government will be provided”. He said amid cold weather conditions the necessary household items including blankets and other items will be provided soon to the fire victims.
