Locals watched as the fire spread and people jumped out of windows in a desperate attempt to escape, as a fire tragedy broke out at a bed and breakfast hotel in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar on Wednesday morning, killing at least 21 people while several others were admitted to hospital for treatment.
The fire at the Flourish Stay B&B was reported to the Delhi Fire Department at around 8:48 am on Wednesday, according to an official statement. Follow live updates of Delhi Malviya Nagar fire here
The fire was extinguished with the help of eight fire engines, according to the official statement issued by DCP South Anant Mittal. Mittal said that through the coordinated efforts of police, fire services and other emergency responders, more than 40 people were rescued and taken to nearby hospitals for medical treatment.
PTI news agency quoted officials as saying that many of the dead were foreigners, most of them from Central Asia and Africa.
Witnesses and officials recall the horror
Residents and officials stated that the bed and breakfast was mostly used by people who needed a place to stay while awaiting treatment at nearby Max Hospital. A resident told HT that the building, like many others in the area, lacks ventilation.
Giriraj Prajapati (40), who lives nearby and was at the site when the fire broke out, said: “Unfortunately, a lot of buildings here were built similarly, without ventilation. I think this is what allowed the fire to spread so much. People were jumping from the upper floors onto mattresses, as smoke filled the entire building.”
A Bangladeshi resident said that his brother miraculously survived the tragedy when he came out just 10 minutes before the fire broke out. “My mother was scheduled to have a knee replacement surgery this morning, so me, her, my brother and I have been staying here for the past five days,” said 26-year-old Minhazul Hassan. “I was in the hospital with her, and luckily my brother left the building ten minutes before the fire started. However, all our passports and belongings are inside, and we are worried they might get burned. The building was not well ventilated, and there were no windows, not even in the bathrooms.” , a law graduate, came here from Bangladesh to undergo surgery for his mother.
A local resident, Om, said he saw a severe fire at around 9:30 a.m. when he and his friend were on a motorcycle. He said he saw several people jumping from the building in an attempt to escape the fire.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Om said: “At around 9:30 am, we saw a very intense fire here. My friend and I were on a motorcycle at that time, and the fire was completely engulfed in flames, and people were jumping from the building from here and there. We saw about 5 people jumping… and one person also broke his leg. The entire road here was blocked. There was a crowd of people….”
Sher Khan, a local resident, recalls how first responders deployed mattresses to rescue those jumping from the building as the fire escalated from a small conflagration into a huge tragedy.
Khan said: “I was going to the store in the morning. There was a small fire here at first, and then it kept growing. As the fire grew, it seemed as if there was no way to jump out of here. People spread out mattresses, and some jumped from the third floor onto it with a small child… She was saying she broke her leg. The crowd put in a lot of effort. However, the situation became severe as time went on…” Khan said.
Fire officer AK Malik said that once his team reached the spot, they rescued 37 people from the building that was housing people receiving treatment at Max Hospital.
This is a multi-storey building. It consists of a basement, ground floor, and five upper floors. Based on inquiries made from people on site, we have determined that this building does not operate as an independent apartment complex. Rather, it appears that most of the passengers were individuals being treated by people known to them at Max Hospital, located directly across the street.”
“Therefore, it is likely that these individuals were staying here for this specific purpose,” he added, stressing that the dead included foreign citizens.
He added: “Yes, there were also foreign nationals among the occupants of the building… The fire was brought under control very early, and it was contained very quickly. We have now evacuated the building and opened it to the police.”
