Rare specimens gutted in Delhi museum blaze

Safety audit nationwide, new museum in Delhi soon.

The National Museum of Natural History, with thousands of rare specimens of flora and fauna, including a 160-million-year-old fossil bone of the Indian Sauropod Dinosaur, was completely gutted in a major fire that broke out in the six-storeyed Ficci Building where it was housed in the Mandi House area in the heart of New Delhi in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

It took nearly 12 hours for 160 fire personnel and 60 fire tenders to bring the fire under control. Seven firemen were injured in the rescue operation and were rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, where two of them are said to be in a critical condition. The fire has reportedly destroyed most of the museum’s precious collections. Besides the 160-million-year-old fossil bone of a lizard-footed dinosaur called a Sauropod, it also had stuffed animals made by renowned Mysore-based taxidermist Van Ingen, specimens of tigers and leopards, preserved butterflies and pre-historic fossils, all of which have been gutted.

The devastation forced minister of state for environment Prakash Javadekar to order an immediate fire audit of all museums across India as it emerged that the fire-fighting system failed to work at the Delhi museum. “This is a real loss. We will assess the loss and see how we can restore it and how the recovery plan can be made”, the minister said. He also said there are plans to move to another area to create a new museum. The new museum will come up in New Delhi, and the project cost is Rs 225 crores. The conceptual work is in progress and a committee has been formed for this. A plot of around 6.5 acres has already been allotted in the area behind Purana Quila near Pragati Maidan.

Witnesses said the fire was spotted by security guard Jagat Yadav at around 1.40 am. “I saw smoke billowing out of the top floor. I alerted the other guards inside the building,” Mr Yadav told this newspaper. He said the fire department was immediately told and the first fire tender arrived at about 1.45 am. In minutes, the fire spread to other floors. Some firemen who first reached the spot got trapped inside the building, after which they sought help.

As the fire spread to all six floors of the building, the fire operations were reportedly stopped for around 15 minutes to rescue those trapped in the building. Once the firemen were rescued, the rescue operations were resumed.

“The entire museum has been gutted. Nothing has been left. The museum had many fossils and species. Around 1,000 visitors from across the country visited it daily,” said museum director B Venugopal.

While the impact of the fire is yet to be fully determined, officials likened the mishap to “losing a vital piece of history”. Said Deepak Apte, director of the Bombay Natural History Society: “It’s indeed a tragic accident. Natural history collections are an invaluable piece of scientific knowledge. It just highlights the value of taking utmost care of such a treasure trove.”

“No human intervention was involved in causing the fire that started from the seventh floor. However, we have completely doused the fire, but cooling operations are still on,” said a fire the department official.

Fire officials said the safety systems were “not functioning”. Deputy fire chief Rajesh Panwar said if the mechanism worked when his personnel tried to activate them, “the fire could have been curtailed soon”. He said: “Had the fire system been working, it would be easier to control the fire at the earliest. We had to depend only on our resources.”

The idea of the museum was initiated by then PM Indira Gandhi in 1972 during the 25th anniversary of India’s Independence. She had wanted a museum to depict the country’s flora, fauna and mineral wealth to provide an out-of-school facility to educate children and to promote environmental awareness among the people. The museum opened in June 1978 on World Environment Day.