Four individuals, including a nine-month-old girl, lost their lives due to suffocation, and two others sustained injuries during a significant fire in a residence on the ground floor of a multi-storey building in Delhi’s Shahdara area on Friday, police said.
A call reporting the blaze was received at 5:22 pm, according to fire officials.
“Five fire tenders were deployed, and the fire was extinguished by 6:55 pm. The fire originated from rubber materials such as wipers and a rubber-cutting machine stored in a house on the ground floor,” stated Atul Garg, Chief of Delhi Fire Services (DFS).
Police and fire personnel rescued six individuals from the building, transferring them to GTB Hospital.
Upon receiving information about the fire, police officers swiftly arrived at the scene, rescuing three people with the assistance of locals, who were then transported to the hospital in a PCR van.
Once fire officials arrived, an additional three individuals, including a child, were rescued. Unfortunately, four of them were declared dead upon arrival at GTB Hospital, including two women aged 28 and 40, a nine-month-old girl, and a 17-year-old boy. A 16-year-old girl and a 70-year-old woman are currently receiving treatment.
The building, featuring four floors and a single staircase, is owned by Bharat Singh. Legal action has been initiated against Singh, who occupied the ground and first floors while renting out the remaining two floors. Further investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The police have formed multiple teams to probe the case, and forensic experts were summoned to collect samples at the incident spot to determine the exact cause of the fire.
A similar tragedy occurred just a week ago, on January 18, when six individuals, including four women from three different families, lost their lives in a fire in a multi-storey building in northwest Delhi’s Pitampura. (With inputs from PTI)
