At least 27 persons, including four children, were killed in a massive fire that swept through the facility on Saturday evening.
The Rajkot Police has detained the owner of the TRP Game Zone and its manager even as at least 27 persons, including four children under the age of 12, were killed in a massive fire that swept through the game zone in the Gujarat city on Saturday evening. TRP Game Zone was teeming with people enjoying a summer vacation outing, officials told news agency PTI.
“So far we have confirmed the death of 27 persons in the fire incident. The bodies are charred beyond recognition and hence their identification is difficult,” said assistant commissioner of police Radhika Bharai.
The death toll is likely to go up as firefighters combed through the charred remains of what was the TRP Game Zone. Most bodies were charred beyond recognition. According to eyewitnesses, several people, including children were playing games at the game zone, located on Nana-Mava Road, when the tragedy struck.
Gujarat home minister Harsh Sanghvi in the early hours of Sunday took stock of the area and said that one person is still missing after the tragic incident. He said that it is a priority to find the missing person.
Rajkot game zone fire tragedy: Latest updates
- The Rajkot Police said the owner and manager of the game zone were detained and taken to the police station for questioning. The Gujarat government has assigned the probe to a Special Investigation Team.
- News18 reported that the manager of the TRP Game Zone Nitin Jain and one of the partners in the facility Yuvraj Singh Solanki were detained late on Saturday. The game zone has three partners — Prakash Jain, Yuvraj Singh Solanki and Rahul Rathod, it added.
- Relief and rescue operations were underway at the affected game zone for more than six hours after the fire broke out at a structure built using metal and fibre sheets for gaming activities around 4:30pm. The structure collapsed due to the huge fire, officials said.
- Assistant commissioner of police Vinayak Patel said the deceased included at least four children under the age of 12. “The bodies are completely charred and it is difficult to identify them,” he said.
- Rajkot collector Prabhav Joshi said the fire control room received a call around 4:30pm regarding the blaze at the TRP Game Zone. “Fire tenders and ambulances rushed to the spot to douse the flames. The fire caused the collapse of the structure, and debris is being cleared,” Prabhav Joshi added. However, the exact cause of the massive fire is not known.
- Swapnil Khare, deputy municipal commissioner of Rajkot said TRP Game Zone had not applied for a fire no-objection certificate (NOC), The Indian Express reported. “We are checking the details of the gaming zone. But prima facie, there are no records that the operators had applied for a fire NOC, nor had they applied for any other clearance from the Rajkot Municipal Corporation,” The Indian Express quoted Khare as saying.
- President Droupadi Murmu, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the incident. Modi spoke to Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel to enquire about the rescue and relief efforts.
- Chief minister Bhupendra Patel has announced an ex gratia of ₹4 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased and ₹50,000 to each injured.
- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asked party workers to provide all possible assistance to those affected by the accident so that the victims do not face any problems regarding treatment or compensation.
- Meanwhile, Rajkot police commissioner Raju Bhargava told media persons that a message had been issued to all the gaming zones in the city to close operations.
