Former captain of the Indian cricket team Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Jharkhand cricket team Dhoni is leading now and the Tamil Nadu cricket team had a miraculous escape when a massive fire broke out in the five star hotel they were staying in on Friday morning.
The mishap led to the postponement of the Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-final against Bengal that was to be held in the national Capital on Friday.
According to a senior fire official, the blaze took place on the first floor of the ITC Welcome Hotel in South-West Delhi where Dhoni and some members of the Jharkhand cricket team were having breakfast on the ninth floor of the hotel.
Some of the other players of the Jharkhand team were in their rooms on the seventh and ninth floor.
“A total of 546 guests apart from the hotel staff were rescued by the firefighters. The fire broke out on the first floor of the building which houses Reliance Trends shopping arcade. The hotel rooms begin from the fifth floor. Apart from the cricketers from the Jharkhand team, cricketers from the Tamil Nadu team who had their match on March 16 too were evacuated from the hotel premises,” added the senior fire official.
The BCCI, in a statement, said all the players and match officials were unhurt and safe.
“Yes, it was scary as a fire broke out early in the morning. We were evacuated and brought to the ground. luckily, the main cricket kits were kept at the Palam ground so they are safe. Now that we are shifting, I can confirm that there has been no damage to our personal belongings also,” Jharkhand coach Rajeev Kumar said.
A Jharkhand player said, “When we were having breakfast at the restaurant... suffocating smell of the smoke alarmed us. We ran for our lives.”
“Both teams were safe but since the Jharkhand players were mentally disturbed, the BCCI had to give them a day’s time to get into a proper frame of mind,” a BCCI match official said. The match that was supposed to be held at the Air Force ground in Palam has been rescheduled and will be held at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground on Saturday after match referee Sanjay Verma announced the postponement.
A senior official from the Delhi Fire Services said, “A call was received around 6.30 am about a fire breaking out at Welcome Hotel. As many as 30 fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the fire was doused by 9.45 am”.
Police said that the fire broke out in a Reliance showroom in the hotel complex. Further investigation is underway to ascertain the cause of the fire.
“The cause of the fire hasn’t yet been ascertained. Around 31 rooms were booked by Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand teams respectively. Investigation is underway to know what triggered the fire,” said a senior police officer.
The hotel said in a statement, “Fire broke out in the shopping mall. In keeping with our safety and security guidelines, as a precautionary measure, we evacuated all our guests. There were no casualties recorded at the hotel.”
late in the afternoon, Dhoni and his Jharkhand teammates were shifted to a five-star facility in lutyens Delhi.