8 injured after jumping from burning five-storey building in Delhi’s Dayalpur

As the flames reached upper floors, four occupants of the first floor residence jumped out in a bid to escape. They were rushed to hospital with minor injuries.

Several residents of a five-storey residence in northeast Delhi’s Dayalpur were injured after they jumped out to escape a fire that had broken out in the early hours of Sunday. Police said the fire was brought under control in around four hours and no casualties were reported.

Officials said the fire broke out around 2:30am and is suspected to have started from the parking area on the ground floor (HT Photo)

Officials from the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said the fire broke out around 2.30am and is suspected to have started from the parking area on the ground floor. Two scooters and a motorcycle parked in the stilt area caught fire, leading to dense smoke rapidly spreading to the upper floors and trapping the residents, officials added.

Haider Ali, 30, who lives with his family on the second floor, said everyone was sleeping when the fire broke out. “We woke up smelling smoke and when we opened the door, all we could see was smoke. We ran towards the balcony and locals helped us come down by installing a staircase,” he said.

As the flames reached upper floors, four occupants of the first floor residence — Nikhat, 22; Rashida, 50; Soni, 25; and Ashif, 2 — jumped out in a bid to escape. They were rushed to Jag Pravesh Chand Hospital with minor injuries and later discharged after first aid, fire department said.

Meanwhile, DFS personnel carried out rescue operations and evacuated four other residents — Suved, 12; Duved, 10; Aarifa, 28; and Farah, 14 — from the second, third and fourth floors.

Fire officials said a child was also rescued from the fourth floor amid heavy smoke conditions. “Fire department officials came slightly late but they managed to rescue a few people including a toddler,” said Mohammed Shahid, 50, a local.

Locals said that as the fire broke out, neighbours in the adjacent buildings also rushed out as preventive measure. Some of them also tried to douse the flames. In a video recorded by a passerby, residents were seen opening the door of the parking and using piped water in an attempt to bring the fire under control.

The fire was brought under control by 6.20am, police said, adding that further investigation is underway to ascertain the exact cause of fire.