‘Stuck for 1.5 hours, fire reached our sofas’: Residents recall desperate escape during Delhi’s Vivek Vihar blaze

AMonolithic discharge ripped through and through a four-storey residential edifice in new delhi’s Vivek Vihar area of Shahdara in the early hours of Sunday. At least nine people, including a toddler, were killed.The blaze, which reportedly ignited between 3:13 am and 3:47 am, spread with terrifying speed across multiple flats on the second, third, and fourth floors. Witnesses recalled the fire trapping residents in grilled balconies and smoke-choked staircases. It took over five hours to finally bring the inferno under control.‘Residents trapped, balcony grilled’Mayanak, a resident of the first floor, said he was woken up by frantic doorbell rings. "I was sleeping when neighbours came and rang the doorbell multiple times. When I woke up, I saw the back portion of the building was on fire. I somehow managed to escape from my house. The entire staircase was blocked due to the fire. Residents from flats located in the back of the building got trapped as there was no escape. Their balcony is blocked by a grill," he told HT.‘Fire reached our sofas’“We were stuck inside for an hour and a half. We were rescued by the fire department,” Ruchi Arora, a resident of the first floor, told HT.Silky, who lives on the third floor, recalled a narrow escape as flames closed in. "We stayed for a significant time on our balcony till the fire department put the Skylift and brought us down. The fire had reached the drawing room and our sofas. We were saved by five minutes," she told HT. Emergency services delayedAnother resident, Navami Jha, 17, said she called emergency services but faced delays. She told HT, "I called 112 at 3:50am. They kept asking me whether I live in Ghaziabad. I said we are at the border in Vivek Vihar. They said it's not their jurisdiction and gave me three numbers. They were all not functioning. The fire department and police came after about 15 mins. By then, we tried to rescue people by putting mattresses on and two minor girls were saved".Officials said the fire spread quickly through household items and engulfed at least six flats. Fourteen fire tenders were deployed, and rescue teams from the Delhi Fire Service, police, and disaster management authorities worked through the morning to evacuate trapped residents. Nine deadSeveral people were rescued while others were later found dead during search operations after the flames were extinguished.Among the dead were three members of a family from the third floor, Nitin Jain 50, his wife Shaily Jain, 48, and their son Samyak Jain, 25. Other victims included residents, including an elderly couple, a young couple, and a toddler, from the second floor. Officials said the bodies were recovered from different parts of the building, including staircases and flats.Resident Naveen Jain suffered more than 40% burns. He has been admitted to Safdurjung Hospital.What caused the fire?Some suspect an air conditioner blast may have triggered the fire. Rohit, a local, told news agency ANI, "A blast in the AC triggered the fire. Around 12-15 were rescued. However, 4-5 people are still missing. The fire started at around 03:13 am. Fire tenders arrived at around 3:35 am. Efforts are being made to extinguish the fire".Charanjit Singh, another resident, said around 20 people were rescued through balconies, but several may still be trapped. "More than 10 vehicles (fire tenders) arrived. The fire brigade rescued around 20 people through the balcony but I think some people from the backside flats were still able to come outside. I think 1 or 2 families are still under the building", he said.Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta described the incident as “extremely tragic”, saying it left her “deeply distressed.”