Over 500 shanties were reduced to ashes near Noida Sec 65 on Sunday
NOIDA: Two sisters, aged three and six years, were charred to death in a fire that reduced over 500 shanties to ashes in Behlolpur village near Noida Sector 65 on Sunday.
Officials in the fire department said a short circuit could have caused the flames and a heavy wind fanned them. What may have caused the fire to spread fast was that most of the shanties were made of plastic and tarpaulin sheets and many of them housed godowns of inflammable materials. The villagers said they had also heard a few cooking gas cylinders exploding.