Guwahati, April 2: A midnight blaze possibly sparked by a mosquito coil and fed by cooking gas cylinders reduced a Guwahati slum to cinders in two hours.

Two residents of the Milan Nagar slum, an extension of Bhootnath in the foothills of Kamakhya, were charred in the fire that began around 12.40am and raged till the last shanty had crumbled in a heap. Police said more bodies could be trapped in the debris, smouldering till late this evening.

Residents blamed the allegedly delayed arrival of fire-tenders for the extent of the damage, but officers of the State Fire Service Organisation said their men did the best they could. “It was impossible for our fire-tenders to reach the slum quickly in the absence of a proper approach road,” one of them said.

As in any city, the majority of the slum dwellers are tenants who have migrated from the rural belt, especially the chars (isles) that dot Lower Assam, for work. Their gutted shanties were built on stilts across a marshy patch of land, part of which is owned by the railways.

The secretary of the Milan Nagar Unnayan Samity, Sayib Choudhury, said nearly 1,500 people were homeless after the fire. “Rain has added to their woes,” he said.

Very few of those living in the 700-odd shanties could save their belongings.

As many as 12 LPG cylinders exploded as the flames spread, swallowing one thatched dwelling after another. One of the victims was private car driver Akibul Haque Sarkar, 21. He was a migrant from Goalpara. The identity of the other victim, also in his early twenties, could not be ascertained.

Two persons, Zahidul Qasim and Atabor Ali, were admitted to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital with critical burns. Several more were injured but did not require hospitalisation.

Choudhury said the blaze originated in a house in the western end of the slum. “Based on various accounts, we believe it was from a mosquito coil.”

Food Corporation of India employee Abidur Rahman said he and his family were asleep when the fire broke out. “Screams woke me up and I jumped out of bed. I was shocked to see flames leaping out of the windows of the house next door. My family scurried out, but our house went up in flames.”

Construction worker Zahira Bibi said the administration’s attitude hurt her as much as the fire did. “We have lost all our belongings and are on the road, but we have not received any compensation from the government.”

Firefighters warned of more such disasters in the congested areas of the city. “A firetender cannot pass through a narrow alley such as the one leading to the Milan Nagar slum. But for the rain that started around 2am, the blaze would have been impossible to control despite our best efforts,” an official said.