Fire In Indian Capital New Delhi Destroys At Least 250 Slum Dwellings

At least 250 slum dwellings or makeshift settlements in the Indian capital of New Delhi were destroyed after a fire broke out in the eastern part of the city early Monday. Over 25 fire engines reached the Mangolpuri area to curb the flames.

No casualties were reported so far in the fire, the cause of which was also not immediately known. According to a report by NDTV, a local news network, the fire, about which a call was made at about 2 a.m. local time (4:30 p.m. EDT Sunday), was brought under control by early Monday. The blaze also reportedly gutted down a plastic warehouse.

Meanwhile, ANI, a local news agency, put the number of dwellings destroyed in the fire at 400.

"The fire broke out early in the morning and our kids woke us up. The first thing we saw were flames inside our house. All we could do was grab the kids and run. Everything has been burnt down. From food to clothes to all our belongings. We only have the clothes left on our body now," a resident told ANI.

Last April, a similar fire broke out at a settlement in the southern part of New Delhi, where over 500 dwellings were destroyed and eight people were injured, the Press Trust of India reported at the time.

According to a government report released February, which took samples between July 2012 and December 2012, over a million households resided in nearly 6,343 slums in urban New Delhi. The reports also said that about 90 percent of slums were built on public land, owned by local government bodies.