17 perish in New Delhi hotel blaze

A FIRE yesterday engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in New Delhi, killing 17 people and injuring at least four others, Indian authorities said.

Three of those killed at the Arpit Palace Hotel in Karol Bagh were members of a family who had travelled from Kerala to the capital for a wedding, a family friend told reporters.

According to a Delhi government minister, most of the deaths were due to suffocation. ‘Carelessness on the part of authorities is evident. We are going to investigate,’ he said.