Dal Lake houseboats fire: Three foreign tourists killed, eight others rescued
File photo.
Three foreign tourists were killed and eight others were rescued after a massive fire broke out on houseboats in the Dal Lake of Srinagarin Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday (Nov 11) morning. The fire spread quickly and engulfed five houseboats namely Safeena, Sabreena, Young Gulshan, Lala Rukh, and Khar Palace. The three deceased tourists were from Bangladesh and were staying in the Safeena houseboat.
The eight other tourists were rescued and evacuated to safety through timely and valiant action by joint efforts of the Srinagar Police, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the tourist police among others.
The fire broke out at around 5.15 am on Saturday and fire service officials rushed to the spot on getting information.
Speaking to the news agency ANI, Station House Officer Fire Service Farooq Ahmad said, "Some 5-8 houseboats and huts were gutted in the fire. We can't identify the source of this fire, we are identifying it.
"We started the rescue operation immediately and asked for the manpower from the headquarters...The situation is under control...There were five houseboats and eight huts...We have rescued tourists also," Ahmad added.
(With inputs from agencies)