One died of suffocation in Thana Road fire incident: Police

One person died of asphyxiation after inhaling toxic smoke as a massive fire engulfed a building which housed Janata Furniture near Payal Cinema at Thana Road, Police Bazar on Saturday afternoon.

Vivek Syiem, Superintendent of Police (Shillong City) said, “One casualty reported in the Thana Road incident, the person (Male) expired in the Military hospital.”

“The person died of suffocation due to smoke in that the fire incident,” he added.

The deceased has been identified as a manager of the Bhajanlals.

Sources informed that the manager had gone to the godown along with a porter for picking up materials for delivery.

He was later trapped in the building after the fire broke out.

A police officer on duty informed that the person was taken out of the gowdown through a small window but he passed away due to suffocation.

It was a big challenge for the fire tenders to reach the location due to the narrow alleys and congested surroundings.

The reason for the fire is yet to be ascertained.

The building has residential complex on the top and shops down.

“Only one building was totally gutted in fire and adjacent building was partially affected,” the City SP said.

Several fire brigade vehicles rushed to the spot to control fire.

Till the filing of the report, the fire service personnel and the central forces are engaged in dousing the fire.

“It may take some time to douse off fire completely,” police said.