Raging wildfires in several forests of Uttarakhand claimed yet another life, taking the death toll to five in the last three days.
A 28-year-old woman had succumbed to her burn injuries on Saturday. The victim, a Nepalese labourer identified as Pooja, had sustained severe burn injuries while trying to douse a fire near a pine resin factory in Almora district three days ago. Her husband and two others had died while battling the same fire last week.
A 65-year-old woman died on Sunday in AIIMS Rishikesh where she was admitted after getting burn injuries while trying to douse a forest fire that had reached her farm in a village in Pauri tehsil, officials said.
Three labourers died of burn injuries they sustained while dousing a forest fire that had reached close to their pine resin factory in Almora, an official said on Friday.
ALSO READ: Why Are Uttarakhand Forest Fires Becoming Unmanageable? How Can Wildfires Be Prevented?
Pilgrims at Dunagiri temple in the Almora district were forced to flee on Saturday as the fire engulfed the passage to the shrine. Forest officials have attributed the rapid spread of the fire to strong winds.
According to a TOI report, flight arrivals at the Naini-Saini airport in Pithoragarh have been stopped due to low visibility.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a review meeting on Saturday regarding the forest fires and asked the officials to create a mechanism by which the blaze could be controlled as soon as possible.
According to a PTI report, since November 1 2023, there have been 910 incidents of forest fire in the state, due to which about 1145 hectares of forest have been affected.
Rain Likely From May 7
The director of the Meteorological Center in Dehradun Bikram Singh hinted at a possibility of rain in the state from May 7-8, which will intensify from May 11. This may help extinguish the forest fires, he said.
The rain will start in the Kumaon region from May 7 and in the Garhwal region from May 8, Singh added.
Three Arrested For Starting Forest Fire
Chamoli district police arrested three men hailing from Bihar for allegedly starting a fire in the Gairsain area and uploading the video to get “more views on social media”, a TOI report said.
Police took suo moto cognisance of the fire doing rounds on social media and arrested the culprits on Saturday evening.
“Based on the video from Pandukhal village under Gairsain police station, the three accused were tracked down and arrested. Brajesh Kunar, Sukhlal and Salman, all residents of Bihar, were working there as labourers,” Superintendent of police (Chamoli) Sarvesh Panwar was quoted by TOI as saying.
“During questioning, the trio said they wanted to get more likes and followers to increase their popularity on social media with the dramatic video,” he added.
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