Residents say fire tenders arrived late at Malviya Nagar; Delhi Fire Service denies

Residents and eyewitnesses near the Malviya Nagar hotel fire site alleged on Wednesday that fire tenders arrived late at the scene, claiming lives could have been saved with a quicker response, even as the Delhi Fire Service rejected the charge. Meanwhile, ten Delhi Police personnel who rushed into the burning building without protective gear to rescue trapped occupants were hospitalised with injuries, all sent to AIIMS, where their condition is reported as stable.

Anjum, who owns a building directly opposite the gutted structure, said she first sensed something was wrong when she went to her father’s room early in the morning to give him his medicine. “We smelled something, but thought it might be something else. Then a spark occurred, and the building soon caught fire. Fire brigades were called around 8 am, but they arrived late. If they could have come earlier, casualties could have been prevented,” she said.

She described the scenes she witnessed from across the lane. Many occupants had suffered severe burn injuries. Others had no option but to jump. “People were very badly injured and burned. People saved themselves by jumping from the building,” she said.

Another resident said the neighbourhood had to organise its own rescue before emergency teams arrived. “People from nearby buildings tried to rescue those trapped using ropes and provided mattresses so they could jump out of the building immediately,” he said. He added that the heat and smoke were so intense outside the building that residents of neighbouring structures could not remain inside their own homes. “If the impact outside was so severe, how could the people trapped inside survive?” he asked.

The Delhi Fire Service officer on duty rejected the allegation of delayed response. “We received a call at 8:50 am and immediately rushed seven vehicles to the spot. The rescue operation was also carried out without delay. There was no delay from the fire department,” the officer said.

The ten police personnel who were injured have been identified as Head Constables Kartar, 32; Hargyan, 40; Prem Chand, 40; Jitendra, 40; and Dinesh, 35; and Constables Vikram, 34; Deepak, 38; Rampal, 30; Sandeep, 30; and Raviranjan, 26.

A senior police officer described what the personnel did when they reached the building. “Without thinking even for a moment, police personnel launched an immediate rescue. Our teams rushed to the spot after the PCR call was received,” the officer said. All ten injured personnel were rushed to AIIMS for treatment, and their condition is stable, police said.

The contradiction between the residents’ account and the fire department’s version of events is significant. Anjum’s account places the first call at around 8 am, while the Delhi Fire Service says it received the call at 8:50 am. Who placed the first call, when it was placed, and how long it took for the first tender to reach the narrow lanes of Hauz Rani locality will form a central part of the inquiry that authorities have indicated will follow.

What is not in dispute is that when the building was burning, the first people to physically enter it were police constables and head constables acting on instinct, without knowing what they would find inside. Ten of them are now in the hospital.