Nine killed in massive fire at residential building in Delhi’s Palam
Nine family members, including three children, were killed in a massive fire at a residential building in Delhi’s Palam. The blaze, suspected to have spread due to flammable materials, left three injured and triggered a large-scale rescue operation.
New Delhi: Nine members of a family, including a 70-year-old woman and three of her granddaughters, one just three years old, were killed after a massive fire tore through a multi-storey residential building in southwest Delhi’s Palam area on Wednesday morning, officials said.
Three others were injured, two of them jumped from the building at Ram Chowk Market near Palam Metro Station in a desperate attempt to escape the flames, they said.
The building housed a cloth and cosmetic showroom in the basement, ground and first floors, while its owner, Rajender Kashyap, lived on the second and third floors with his family.
Neighbours said the fire initially started on the first floor but spread quickly, possibly due to the presence of perfumes and other beauty products in the shop that are highly flammable.
Rajender, the local market association president, lived in the building with his wife, their five sons, a daughter, four daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren.
At the time of the incident, several family members were not present in the house. Kashyap was in Goa, while one of his sons and his family were away on a holiday, officials said.
Rajender’s wife Lado (70), her sons Pravesh (33) and Kamal (39), Kamal’s wife Ashu (35) and their three daughters aged 15, six and three were killed in the blaze.
Lado’s daughter, Himanshi (22), and daughter-in-law, Deepika (28), also died in the fire, police said.
Anil (32), son of Rajender and Lado, dropped his two-year-old daughter from the third floor while trying to lower her onto the second floor where there was access to a ladder. Soon, he too jumped. Both sustained injuries and are undergoing treatment, officials said.
Sachin (29), who jumped to an adjacent building to save himself, also sustained injuries and is being treated for around 25 per cent burn injuries at Safdarjung Hospital.
Information regarding the blaze was received at 7:04 am at Palam Village police station, following which teams rushed to the spot.
Around 30 fire tenders and 11 ambulances were pressed into service, along with personnel from the police, BSES, Air Force Police and the NDRF, as part of a massive firefighting and rescue operation.
Visuals from the scene showed thick plumes of black smoke billowing out of the building and rising into the sky, with flames engulfing parts of the structure as firefighters battled the blaze in the congested market area.
Firefighters carried out intensive search and rescue operations, navigating through narrow lanes and smoke-filled interiors to evacuate those trapped inside.
The fire was doused around 2.20 pm and a cooling operation began after that.
The area was cordoned off and a forensic team was called to inspect the spot. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, police said.
Gurpal Singh, an eyewitness, said the fire broke out around 6.15 am. He added that the fire spread quickly because the shop had a beauty parlour with large quantities of cosmetic products.
“The shop used to sell perfumes and other beauty products, which are highly flammable. Within a few minutes, the fire spread from the ground floor to the third floor,” Gurpal said.
Neighbours also suspect the fire may have been caused by a short circuit, saying that the electrical board was next to the staircase on the ground floor.
“Initially, the fire was confined to the ground floor, and the house was tightly packed with no ventilation. However, when the fire tenders arrived and tried to break the window glass, the flames intensified and spread rapidly,” a neighbour said.
