15 rescued after fire breaks out at Bhikaji Cama office

A major fire broke out at a building housing several offices of different departments on Tuesday evening, a fire service official said. No was reported injured.

At least 15 people were trapped when a fire broke out inside a multi-storeyed commercial office complex at Bhikaji Cama Place in south Delhi on Tuesday evening.

Firefighters-use-a-ladder-to-climb-up-the-building-where-a-fire-broke-out-at-Bhika-Ji-Cama-Place-a-corporate-hub-in-New-Delhi-on-Tuesday-More-than-15-fire-tenders-were-dispatched-to-put-out-the-blaze-Vipin-Kumar-HT-Photo

The fire broke out at the fifth floor of Ansal Chamber at about 7 pm, trapping the occupants -all employees of a private company - on the sixth floor of the building.

They were safely rescued by teams of the Delhi Fire department's south zone led by deputy chief fire officer Atul Garg.

"The blaze was reported to us at about 7 pm and within minutes, 11 fire tenders reached the spot. Since the blaze was on the fifth floor and several people were trapped on the sixth floor of the building due to smoke, we used hydraulic fire platforms to rescue them from the high-rise building," said Garg.

The entire rescue operation lasted for about 40 minutes, he said. According to Garg, the exact reason behind the blaze could not be ascertained till late in the night as the fire originated from one of the locked offices on the fifth floor.

"The reason could be a short-circuit in the electric wiring or it could be because of a possible explosion in a computer. Our firefighters worked for over one-and-half hours and controlled the blaze by 8.45 pm," he added.

Being a multi-storeyed building, the fire department pressed in additional fire tenders and fighters. The fire tenders used adjoining buildings to spray water on the affected part of the building.