Forest Fire in Chamba Claims Life of Deputy Ranger, While Three Injured in Separate Incident

Chamba, May 31: A deputy ranger of forest department died while extinguishing a forest fire in Chamba district on Tuesday evening. In another forest fire incident, three youths sustained burn injuries. Deputy Ranger, Ashok Kumar, was a resident of Pukhri in Chamba district divisional forest officer (DFO), Dalhousie, Rakesh Katoch told Hindustan Times that Kumar was leading a seven-member team in extinguishing a fire raging in Bengla forest at Jot on Tuesday evening.

The officer further added that he fell off into a gorge after slipping on a slope and died on the spot. Kumar’s body has been handed over to family members after postmortem. According to a report published in Hindustan Times, three youths sustained burn injuries while trying to douse a fire that started in Fagot forest of Bhatiyat assembly segment. Injured Kewal Ram, Anoop and Rakesh were admitted to a hospital at Nurpur.

In another incident of a forest fire, a 133-year-old church and an old building belonging to the Military Engineering Services of the Indian Army in Bakloh cantonment were damaged. According to the report, over 3,000 hectares of forests have been destroyed by forest fires this summer. A total of seven people have died so far.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 31, 2018 05:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).