‘I dangled outside the window for air’
new delhi — Pushed to the extreme by the choking smoke in the Delhi hotel fire, a 38-year-old businessman from Assam dangled outside the window for air and cheated death when finally the firemen brought him down using a ladder after nearly one hour.
Seventeen people, many of them sleeping guests, were killed in a fire at Hotel Arpit Palace in central Delhi’s Karol Bagh area early on Tuesday morning.
Mayur, a clothes merchant who was staying at the hotel that was gutted by fire, said about the pandemonium that ensued inside the hotel after it caught fire and how some of the guests who managed to reach the terrace had to battle the effects of the blaze even there.
“Everyone was in full panic mode inside as there was too much smoke. While people ran helter-skelter for safety cover, I threw half of my body outside my room’s window to catch some fresh air. I remained in that position for about 45 minutes before the firemen came and rescued me,” he said.
Those who could manage to run up to the terrace were not spared either. The fibre-sheet which was used as a canopy above the seating arrangements there melted in the fire and came down crumbling on the people hiding there, he said.
“Their ordeal continued for a long time,” Mayur said.
A video shot by a witness showed the roof consumed by flames.
Fire authorities said wood-paneled hallways and stairwells fed the fire and cut off escape routes. A video provided to The Associated Press by fire officials showed a firefighter carrying a person over his
shoulder through an unlit, charred stairwell. Firefighters rescued about three dozen people by breaking
windows to access those trapped inside.
Those who were spared death were left shaken and dazed by the worst fire tragedy in the city since the 1997 Uphaar Cinema fire, in which 59 cinegoers had died of asphyxia.
It was not immediately clear how many guests and staff were inside the hotel, which had 43 guest rooms, according to its website.
Relatives of Lal Chand, a longtime kitchen supervisor at the hotel, were waiting outside a mortuary after looking for him at three hospitals.
“We have checked so many bodies, but could not find him. Till now we cannot trace him,” said Chand’s brother, Satish Kumar. —
While leaving the hotel premises, Muralimohan [a colleague] alerted the hotel management and their staff about some fire smell. But they took our warning casually Ashok Kumar, a Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited official
While people ran for safety cover, I threw half of my body outside my room’s window to catch some fresh air. I remained in that position for about 45 minutes before the firemen came
Mayur,
a clothes merchant
We were all ready early morning to go to Haridwar when suddenly there was a power cut. They switched on the generator and there was heavy smoke and smell
Somshekhar, a Keralite
We have checked so many bodies, but could not find him [Lal Chand, a kitchen supervisor at the hotel]. Till now we cannot trace him
Satish Kumar, Lal Chand’s brother