At least three people, including a 22-year-old man and two women, lost their lives while two others remain in critical condition after a fire engulfed a multi-storey residential building in southeast Delhi’s Tughlakabad in the early hours of Friday.
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The fire was reported around 2.03 am from Gali No. 1 in Tughlakabad, according to officials. The blaze started in the parking area on the ground floor of a building comprising a ground floor and five upper storeys, before thick smoke spread rapidly through the structure, earlier HT reported.
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The incident comes days after a massive fire at a bed-and-breakfast facility in Hauz Rani on June 3, in which 23 people were killed.
Residents say they entered the building within minutes
Residents of the neighbourhood launched rescue efforts on their own, with several locals rushing into the smoke-filled building to save those trapped inside. Among them was 45-year-old Renu Bhutani, who said that she was awake at the time due to her habit of watching crime dramas at night.
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“My son and I entered by going to the terrace of the building behind this one. Since that is only a two-storey building and this is a five-storey one, we found two wooden ladders, tied them together, and then climbed up to the roof of this building, while two other people held the ladder to ensure we didn’t fall. As the roof was locked from the inside, my son had to break it open with a rock. Instantly, clouds of extremely heavy smoke hit us. We used stones to puncture the water tanks on the roof so that the water could flow down the stairs, reduce the smoke, and hopefully quell the fire, Bhutani said.
“We then drenched ourselves in water and entered the building. We saved two girls who had called to us from the fourth floor, by making them escape the same way we entered, and another couple on the third floor, whom we had to rescue by breaking down the door to their flat with a grinder. We heard two girls trapped further down as well, but were not able to travel below the third floor as the smoke made it impossible. We signalled a person in the opposite building to throw over a sari, which the girls on the second floor tied on the balcony railing and were able to use to climb down. Fortunately, the firefighters had arrived by this point, and they took over,” she added.
Teen describes frantic rescue
Sixteen-year-old Krishna Kashyap, who lives next door, said screams for help alerted residents and the entire locality rushed to assist.
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“Since my father has night duty, my mother was awake and waiting for him to return when she started hearing screams for help, and saw a lot of smoke. Within minutes the smoke had engulfed not only that building but had entered our house as well, and filled the entire alley. Many people in the building had gathered on the roof. Despite the smoke, neighbours, shopkeepers, and others had rushed to the spot, to help people,” Krishna Kashyap told HT.
“One person on the second floor tied his wife’s saari to the balcony rail, and climbed down and jumped. My brother was among the people who caught him with nothing but their hands. Since we live in the neighbouring building, I was speaking to the trapped people from my roof to find out where they were in the building. The problem is that there is no ventilation in this building, and in a lot of new buildings being made. This one was constructed within the last five years, and it has very cramped rooms, and a cramped staircase. Older houses like mine have better ventilation, but it feels as if new buildings are made with the goal of utilising as much space as possible for living areas,” he added.
“Was thankfully awake”
“I live one building over, and was thankfully awake since my children had kept me up. At around 2:00 am they said that they could smell smoke. When i looked out of the building, I heard people screaming and saw that thick smoke had engulfed the lane. We all ran out of the building and went to the end of the lane, where many other residents had gathered. It is really scary, as the smoke was trapped within the building due to its lack of ventilation,” Pushpa Devi (40), another resident of the area said.
“Many other buildings here, including my house, are built like this, and I know that if an incident like this happens in my house, my family will also be trapped and not be able to escape. It is not as if the fire itself is the only cause for the deaths, but instead also the building layout. A few years ago, a CNG cylinder godown a few lanes over had caught on fire, with many cylinders exploding as well, but no one died in that, as the building layout had allowed people to escape. My 8 year-old dauggter is so scared now, and I don’t know what to tell her” she added.
Firefighters cut open locked gate to reach rooftop
Police personnel reached the location soon after the incident and were joined by senior officers, while four fire tenders, CATS ambulances and other emergency response units were deployed.
Firefighters rescued five occupants from inside the building and later climbed to the terrace, where they cut open a locked gate to rescue two girls believed to have taken shelter on the rooftop to escape the smoke.
Officials said the blaze was brought under control around 3.45 am and completely extinguished by 4 am.
