A massive fire broke out on Thursday at a four-storey coaching centre in the northwest Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar area, resulting in injuries to 22 students. In a desperate attempt to escape, students of the coaching institute resorted to smashing windows, using ropes, and seeking help from ladders as the fire engulfed the top floor of the building.
The Delhi Fire Service Director, Atul Garg, received a call about the fire at 12.27 pm and immediately dispatched 11 fire tenders to the scene. Garg reported that approximately 10-12 students sustained minor injuries while panicking and descending via ropes. He assured that there were no major casualties and that all students had been successfully rescued. Mukherjee Nagar is a renowned coaching hub for government job aspirants.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the fire originated from the meter board installed on the fourth floor of the building. The building, consisting of a ground floor and four additional floors, became the stage for a daring rescue operation captured in a video shared by the fire department. Firefighters can be seen saving the lives of people, primarily students, through the windows while smoke billows out from the top floor.
In their bid for survival, terrified students utilized ropes on the opposite side of the building to evacuate the premises. The video depicts trapped students emerging from the top floor one by one with the aid of ropes. Some students even threw their bags and assisted one another during the rescue operation.
A large crowd gathered on the ground floor, with many onlookers recording videos of the incident on their mobile phones. Garg added, “The firefighting operation has been successfully concluded, and so far, no major injuries have been reported.”
Neha Mangal (19), a recent enrollee at the coaching institute, described the ordeal, saying, “There was smoke in the classroom, and I sustained burn injuries on both hands. We managed to open a window and descended using an AC wire.”
“During the incident, the class was being conducted on the fourth floor. As news of the fire spread, some students escaped through the terrace. The staff members helped us flee the fire. I sustained minor injuries but managed to reach the terrace and escaped through an adjacent building,” recounted another student named Moolchand.