16-year-old killed, 4 family members injured in fire at Delhi flat: Police

One of the family members has suffered 90% burns and his condition is critical at the AIIMS Trauma Centre’s New Burn and Plastic Surgery Ward

A 16-year-old boy died, and four members of his family were injured after a fire broke out followed by an explosion at their flat on the fourth floor of a building in Kishangarh near Vasant Kunj in south Delhi in the early hours of Wednesday, officials of police and fire departments said.

Police said the exact reason of the fire is still not known. (Representational image)

One of the family members, Sunny Mandal, 22, has suffered 90% burns and his condition is critical at the AIIMS Trauma Centre’s New Burn and Plastic Surgery Ward, where he was admitted along with his 16-year-old brother, Akash Mandal, who was declared brought dead, the officials of the two departments said.

The other three family members, who are undergoing treatment at Safdurjung Hospital have been identified as Laxmi Mandal,42, his wife Anita Mandal,40, and their third son Deepak Mandal,20, said the police, and added that the condition of the trio was stable, they said.

Delhi Fire Services (DFS) chief Atul Garg said that at 3.22am, the fire control room received a call regarding a fire in a house at Shani Bazar Road in Kishangarh. Two Fire tenders were rushed to the fire spot.

“Around 6am, the fire fighters returned and the firefighting operation incharge informed that the fire was in a room on the fourth floor of a building. Some kind of blast occurred resulting in four people getting injured. They were admitted to Safdarjung Hospital and AIIMS Trauma Centre, where one of them, identified as Akash Mandal was pronounced dead on arrival,” said Garg.

Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Surendra Choudhary said that at 3.27am, the Kishangarh police station received a call regarding the fire incident and a team went to the building. It was found that the fire broke out in a two-bedroom set flat on the fourth floor of a residential building

“Two fire tenders and three police vans also reached the spot. With joint efforts of all agencies, the fire was controlled. All household articles were gutted burnt. Total four injured people, including a woman, were taken to two hospitals in police vans. One person, who was also having difficulty in breathing, was also sent to the hospital with local police staff. One among the five was dead,” said Choudhary.

During local enquiry, the DCP said, it was learnt that the head of the victim family, Laxmi Mandal, lived in the flat on rent with his wife and three sons. Mandal is a private gardener by profession while his two sons work as delivery boys for Blinkit. The youngest son, who died, was studying.

“Initially it was suspected that the fire broke out due to leakage in a cooking gas (LPG) cylinder but when the flat was inspected, the cylinder was found intact. The exact reason of the fire is still not known. We are trying to ascertain it. Accordingly, necessary legal action would be taken into the matter,” added DCP Choudhary.