A fire tore through an apartment building in east Delhi’s Vivek Vihar early Sunday, killing nine people from three families and seriously injuring another person, the latest in a series of major blazes in the capital this year that have raised new questions about fire safety in residential buildings.
The fire is suspected to have started after a short circuit in the outdoor unit of the air conditioner on the second floor of the four-storey building in Block B of Vivek Vihar. Delhi Fire Services officials said an electrical short circuit likely caused the explosion, which helped the flames spread quickly and engulf the upper floors.
Rescue personnel from the Department of Field Support and Delhi Police said many residents were trapped due to the building’s security arrangements — a central locking system that may have kept the doors locked, a locked metal gate cutting off the balcony and iron grilles installed across the back facade preventing escape through balconies. Neighbors who called emergency services said some initial calls were redirected to the Uttar Pradesh police control room because Vivek Vihar is located near the Delhi border.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoles the deaths and Rs2 lakh help”>announced $2 million assistance to the families of the dead.
A child is among the victims
The fire department said it received the first call at 3.47am and that tenders arrived at the site around 4.10am. Neighbors and eyewitnesses said that the fire broke out at around 3:30 am. DFS officials said the fire was under control by 6.25am and was completely extinguished by 8am.
By then, nine bodies had been recovered from the building: Shikha Jain (45), a resident of the second floor; Arvind Jain (60) and Anita Jain (58), their son Nishank Jain (35), his wife Aanchal Jain (33) and their one-year-old son, all of whom live on the third floor; Nitin Jain (50), Shali Jain (48) and their son Samyak Jain (25) live on the fourth floor. The families are not related.
Shikha Jain’s husband, Naveen, is in critical condition with more than 40% burns. Their two daughters survived by jumping on mattresses placed by local residents.
Officials familiar with the matter said that the building extends over an area of 800 square yards. – Each floor has two apartments – one in the back and one in the front. Investigators said the fire originated in the back apartment on the second floor and destroyed the units arranged vertically above it. First floor apartments and front-facing apartments were largely unaffected.
Residents said the building was constructed about eight years ago. Officials familiar with the matter said they were still verifying whether the entire building followed all internal regulations. They ordered separate investigations at the zonal and headquarters levels to verify the width of the stairs and examine the installation of grids across four floors and the number of units.
Officials said the metal mesh at the back and the single narrow staircase severely hampered the evacuation. With smoke and flames filling the stairs, the residents of the upper floors had little room to escape. Three from one family were found on the stairs near the balcony, five from another family were found inside their home on the third floor, and a woman was found on the second floor inside her home.
The three residents on the fourth floor tried to escape to the balcony, but were prevented by a metal gate that they usually kept closed at night. Their bodies were later found on the stairs near the balcony entrance.
The tragedy devastated relatives.
The weekend plan was canceled due to the health of the little one
Arvind’s nephew Sachin Jain (30), who also lives in Vivek Vihar, said the five who live on the third floor had planned to travel to Manesar over the weekend, but canceled the trip after the child fell ill.
“My cousin Deepak, Nishank’s younger brother, went to Manesar with his wife and two sons to celebrate his five-year-old son’s birthday. They were living in the same house and the entire family was supposed to go, but Nishank’s son fell ill, so they dropped the plan,” Sachin said.
Relatives said that Sheikha was a housewife. Arvind retired from his job and his wife Anita was a housewife. Their son Nishank was a chartered accountant. His wife Aanchal was a director at the Punjab and Sind Bank in Anand Vihar. Nitin and his son Samyak ran the Indus Flavor restaurant at Cross River Mall in Shahdara, 3 km from their home, as well as a paper business. Nitin’s wife Shali was a former Congress advisor.
Ruchi Arora, 52, who lives in the front-facing apartment on the second floor, said she waited on her balcony for about an hour before firefighters rescued her family and her.
“They installed stairs and an elevator, and used it to take us down,” she said.
Mayank Jain, a resident of the back apartment on the first floor, said he was sleeping and his brother woke him up.
“People were calling us and ringing our doorbell around 4 a.m.,” he said. “When we came out, the fire had already reached our door. We were able to go down the stairs, as there was no other way. I saw two girls and a woman screaming for help from the second floor. In the end, they jumped on the mattresses that other neighbors had placed.”
He added that the air conditioners began to explode one by one as the fire spread.
Namami Jha, 17, who lives on the second floor of the building next door, said she was one of the people who made the emergency calls, but added that the first set of calls were routed to the Uttar Pradesh police control room.
“We are on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, so the calls were being redirected. By the time the calls were connected, we switched off the mattresses and two girls jumped on them from the second floor. Others were trying to throw water in buckets, but to no avail,” she said.
Assistant Divisional Officer Deepak Hooda said his team had to cut the iron mesh at the back using gas cutters to reach the apartments.
“It took some time, but we were able to rescue an elderly woman and two young women from the second floor,” he said.
Police said legal proceedings had begun and forensic teams had searched the site.
The fire is the latest in a series of major fires in Delhi, bringing renewed scrutiny to compliance with safety standards in residential and commercial buildings. The building that caught fire on Sunday is located just a few hundred meters from Vivek Vihar Hospital, where a major fire in 2024 killed seven infants.
On March 18 this year, nine members of a family in Palam Vihar died due to a major fire in their house.
