Not fire but smoke killed men: Docs

NEW DELHI: Despite the fire that broke out on Sunday morning at Anaj Mandi, burns did not kill the 43 people — it was the toxic gas that did.

With Saturday night temperature dropping to 9.3°C, the men in the building had closed the windows.

The crowded rooms and lack of ventilation meant most people inhaled a lot of smoke resulting in inhalation injuries, or acute injuries to the lungs and respiratory system.

At Lok Nayak hospital, of the 18 persons who had been admitted, only one had severe burns.

“Of the rest, some have superficial burn injuries but the problem is that most of them have inhaled a lot of smoke,” said Dr Kishore Singh, medical director, Lok Nayak hospital. “For all patients with inhalation injuries, the next 72 hours will be critical. Usually, smoke inhalation injuries start manifesting completely after 12 hours, meaning the condition of the patients might worsen further before we see any improvement.”

The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) department’s additional district magistrate (ADM) Rajesh Shukla brought to the casualty of Lok Nayak hospital after inhaling a lot of smoke said, “We were told a couple of people were stuck in the building. But, when we went to the area where they were, we found that there were several others who were unconscious because of the smoke.”

Of the 34 people who died at the hospital, only one person had been severely burnt, according to hospital personnel. “He can still be identified,” said the hospital personnel, on condition of anonymity.

Most of the factory workers lived in cramped rooms that was shared by 10 to 15 men.

“The actual cause of death will come out in the post-mortem but prima facie it looks like most deaths have happened due to inhalation injuries. There aren’t many burn injury marks on the bodies,” said HR Singh, head of emergency medicine department, Lady Hardinge Medical College.

“We saw that all windows of the building had iron grilles and mosquito meshes which did not allow proper ventilation causing the smoke to congeal,” Delhi Fire Service’s director Atul Garg.

The hospital received 10 victims in the morning, of which nine were brought dead. “Of the nine dead, just two had suffered about 50% burn injuries, the rest seemed to have choked on the smoke,” said a staff member at the hospital, requesting anonymity.

The one alive, 19-year-old Arshad Alam, is being treated in the medical intensive care unit (ICU).

“He has suffered severe inhalation injuries that seem to have affected his lungs. Since there is a risk of developing acute respiratory distress syndrome in next 48 to 72 hours, we have kept him under observation in the ICU. He also has a previous history of bronchial asthma that aggravated his lung condition. He, however, is conscious and oriented,” said a doctor treating him in the intensive care unit.