4 forest staffers burnt alive in Uttarakhand wildlife sanctuary blaze

DEHRADUN: Four forest department personnel were burnt alive while four others were grievously injured during a firefighting operation in Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary in Almora Thursday, report Shivani Azad & Yogesh Nagarkoti. This is the first such incident this year in which frontline forest workers lost their lives in a wildfire, taking the total number of casualties to 10 in this forest fire season.Of these, nine casualties have happened in the Almora area alone.
The incident occurred in the afternoon when the personnel arrived at the site in a departmental vehicle to extinguish the blaze. However, the fire was raging so hard that the workers were soon engulfed in the flames, suffering severe burns, as per officials. Those who died included forest beat officer Trilok Mehta, 56, fire watcher Karan Arya, 21, Prantiya Rakshak Dal member Puran Mehra, 52, and Deewan Ram, 35, a daily wage worker.
CM Pushkar Singh Dhami announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the deceased.
The blaze is still raging in the area and fire fighting efforts are underway.