Massive blaze in Delhi hotel claims 17 lives
new delhi — A fire engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in central New Delhi early on Tuesday, killing 17 people and injuring at least four others, including a woman from Myanmar who leaped from an upper floor to escape the flames, Indian authorities said.
Three of those killed were members of a family who had travelled to India’s capital from Kerala to attend a wedding, family friend Arvind Vishwanathan said outside a hospital mortuary.
Most of the deaths at the Arpit Palace Hotel in Karol Bagh, an area popular with tourists because of its shops and budget hotels, were due to suffocation, said Satyendar Kumar Jain, the Delhi government minister of health and urban development, as he toured the site after the fire was extinguished. —
new delhi — At least 17 people died when a fire ripped through a budget hotel in Delhi on Tuesday, with victims including a woman and a child who reportedly jumped from a window to escape the blaze.
Images showed thick smoke and flames billowing out of the top floor of the Hotel Arpit Palace in a congested part of the Indian capital.
Guests at the hotel, popular with budget and business travellers, were unable to use corridors to escape because of wooden panelling, according to a fire officer.
Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons, who visited the hotel, said that the hotel had its emergency exits closed every night.
“We just took a look at the emergency exits. It’s all illegal. These are very narrow, not according to specifications. And they were closed at night. According to information we have, those gates are closed at night and a guard sits outside. But we don’t know if the guard was there or not,” Alphons, was quoted as saying by NDTV news channel.
Three of those killed were members of a family who had travelled to India’s capital from Kerala to attend a wedding, family friend Arvind Vishwanathan said outside a hospital mortuary.
Three Myanmar citizens staying at the hotel were missing, the NDTV reported.
Most of the residents were sleeping at the time the fire broke out in the early hours of Tuesday.
It is estimated some 120 people were inside the building, built around 25 years ago, according to the hotel’s website.
“We have confirmed with hospital authorities, the toll is now 17 including a child,” Sunil Choudhary, a senior fire brigade official, said.
G.C. Misra, Delhi fire services director, said the blaze had been brought under control and that 35 people were rescued by firefighters in an operation lasting several hours involving at least 25 fire engines. “There was wooden panelling on corridors because of which people could not use corridors to evacuate,” another fire officer told reporters.
Police said they were investigating the cause, and a judicial probe has been ordered into the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India. Prima facie the blaze appears to have caused by a short circuit, the officer added.
Buildings can only be constructed up to four floors in Delhi. This hotel had been built up to six floors. It’s gross negligence on the part of the officers who allowed the extra floors to be built
Satyendra Jain, Delhi’s Home Minister
There was wooden panelling on corridors because of which people could not use corridors to evacuate
A fire officer
The hotel is in the Karol Bagh district, a busy commercial centre criss-crossed by narrow alleys where electric wires dangle overhead. The area, which houses hundreds of hotels, shops and offices, is packed with tourists and shoppers. Fires are common across India because of poor safety standards and lax enforcement of regulations. Activists
say builders and landlords often cut corners on safety to save costs and have accused civic authorities of negligence and apathy. “Buildings can only be constructed up to four floors in Delhi,” Delhi’s Home Minister Satyendra Jain told NDTV. “This hotel had been built up to six floors. It’s gross negligence on the part of the officers who allowed the extra floors to be built. “The entire hotel has wooden panelling, this shows carelessness on the part of the owner.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life in a statement posted on Twitter. —