Hauz Rani fire: ‘We broke the window and jumped,’ recalls staff member

18-year-old staffer at Flourish Stay B&B recounts saving unconscious colleague from fire by jumping from first floor window. Manager not on site during incident.

An 18-year-old staffer of the Flourish Stay bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation recalled the day of the fire and said his colleague fell unconscious in one of the rooms while two of them helped him jump from the first floor window.

At least 21 people were killed in fire in Flourish Stays B&B in Hauz Rani. (HT Archive)

Raj, originally from Bihar, has been working at the establishment for the last two months in the morning shift from 8am to 6pm. He said he is part of the housekeeping team and was with his colleagues on the first floor on Wednesday morning when they heard another staffer coming and shouting that a fire has erupted.

“Everything was fine till 8am. Around 8:30am, some guests were sitting on the sofa on the first floor when we were making up the bed in a room. We suddenly saw a black cloud of smoke. When our colleague came shouting, all three of us ran to a room and locked ourselves in. Our friend Rohit went into the bathroom and collapsed. The two of us then broke the windows using furniture in the room, held him and helped him jump from the window. Then my second colleague jumped and then I jumped at the end,” Raj said.

Raj also said that the B&B was managed by Jay Mishra - who was the license holder - but he did not stay at the facility - as mandated by the B&B Policy. “He used to come and go just like all of us. He did not stay here,” he said.