17 killed in fire at New Delhi hotel

NEW DELHI (AP) — A fire engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in central New Delhi yesterday, killing 17 people and injuring at least four others, Indian authorities said.

Most of the deaths at the Arpit Palace Hotel were due to suffocation, said Satyendar Kumar Jain, the Delhi government Cabinet minister of health and urban development.

A hotel guest said rescue efforts were delayed because fire engine ladders couldn’t reach his floor.

The five-story hotel had a makeshift sixth floor built on top of the roof out of fiberglass, Jain said.

“Carelessness on the part of authorities is evident. We are going to investigate, and the wrongdoer will be punished,” he told reporters at the scene.

The Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh, an area in India’s capital city full of shops and budget hotels that is popular with tourists, had 43 guest rooms, according to its website.

Rescuers had to use the windows to reach people because the corridors, made of wooden panels that worsened the fire, were blocked, Vipin Kental, chief fire officer, told NDTV.

The fire was extinguished, first responders had cleared all the rooms and the hotel was sealed by midday yesterday. Authorities were still investigating what sparked the blaze, Deputy Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Randhawa said.

Twenty-five fire engines responded to the fire, which had engulfed all but the ground floor of the hotel, fire officer Vijay Paul said.