New Delhi, March 18 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-story residential building in southwest Delhi's Palam area on Wednesday morning, officials said.
Three others were injured, two of whom jumped from the building at Ram Chowk Market near the Palam Metro Station in a desperate attempt to escape the flames, they said.
The building housed a cloth and cosmetic showroom on the basement, ground, and first floors, while its owner, Rajender Kashyap, lived on the second and third floors with his family.
Neighbors said the fire initially started on the first floor but quickly spread, 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 vacation, 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, 6, and 3 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 percent burn injuries at Safdarjung Hospital.
Information regarding the blaze was received at 7:04 am at the 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 parlor 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.
Neighbors 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 neighbor said.
