New Delhi, March 18: Devastating fires in Delhi and Indore on Wednesday killed 17 people, many of them children, and gutted several shops in busy markets in Ahmedabad and Chandigarh, triggering panic and large-scale firefighting operations.
Authorities rushed teams to contain the flames and rescue those trapped, ordered probes into the incidents and announced financial compensation for the victims.
In the national capital, nine members of a family, including three children and a 70-year-old woman, were killed after a massive fire tore through a multi-storey residential-cum-commercial building in southwest Delhi’s Palam area.
Three others were injured, two of them jumped from the building at Ram Chowk Market near Palam Metro Station in a desperate attempt to escape the flames.
The building housed a cloth and cosmetic showroom in the basement, ground and first floors, while its owner, Rajender Kashyap, lived on the second and third floors with his family.
Neighbours said the fire initially started on the first floor but spread quickly, possibly due to the presence of perfumes and other beauty products in the shop that are highly flammable.
At the time of the incident that occurred around 7 am, several family members were not present in the house. Rajender was in Goa, while one of his sons and his family were away on a vacation, officials said.
Rajender’s wife Lado, 70, their sons Pravesh, 33, and Kamal, 39, Kamal’s wife Ashu, 35, and their three daughters aged 15, six and three were killed in the blaze. Rajender and Lado’s daughter, Himanshi, 22, and daughter-in-law, Deepika, 28, also died in the fire.
Anil, 32, the third son, dropped his two-year-old daughter from the third floor while trying to lower her onto the second floor, where there was access to a ladder. Soon, he too jumped. Both sustained injuries and are undergoing treatment, officials said.
The couple’s fourth son, 29-year-old Sachin, who jumped to an adjacent building also sustained injuries and is being treated for around 25 per cent burn injuries at Safdarjung Hospital.
Around 30 fire tenders and 11 ambulances were pressed into service, along with personnel from the police, BSES, Air Force Police and the NDRF, as part of a massive firefighting and rescue operation.
Visuals from the scene showed thick plumes of black smoke billowing out of the building and rising into the sky, with flames engulfing parts of the structure as firefighters battled the blaze in the congested market area.
The fire was doused around 2.20 pm, and a cooling operation began after that.
Eyewitnesses described the frantic rescue efforts by locals who tried to break windows and even a wall from an adjacent building to reach those trapped inside, but dense smoke hampered access.
Some residents alleged delays due to technical issues with firefighting equipment, though officials have not confirmed this. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
In Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, eight members of a family were killed after a fire broke out at a local businessman’s three-storey house following an explosion at an Electric Vehicle (EV) charging point outside the building.
Police said a car being charged outside the house caught fire after the explosion, and the flames spread rapidly to the building.
Investigators said they found clues of 10 to 11 LPG cylinders stored at the house located in Brajeshwari Annex Colony, and explosions of some of these gas containers intensified the blaze that broke out around 4 am.
The deceased were identified as six-year-old Tanmay, Rashi Sethia, 12, Simran, 30, Tinu, 35, Suman Sethia, 60, Vijay Sethia, 65, Chhotu Sethia, 22, and Manoj Pugalia, 65.
Pugalia’s close relatives were also in the house at the time of the fire, and three people were rescued by breaking the grille of the building, they said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep sorrow over the two fire incidents and announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the PM National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 for those injured.
Modi expressed condolences to those who lost their loved ones and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.
Authorities in both cities swung into action following the fire incidents.
Delhi Lt Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu, chairing his first Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting, directed a comprehensive fire audit across the city. (PTI)
