Guard killed as Delhi high-rise catches fire

A security guard was killed when a 15-storey building housing commercial establishments caught fire in central Delhi due to a suspected short-circuit early Monday.

A security guard was killed when a 15-storey building housing commercial establishments caught fire in central Delhi due to a suspected short-circuit early Monday.

The fire started from the third floor of the Himalaya House on the busy Kasturba Gandhi Marg at around 5.45am and with many of the 144 offices being renovated, materials such as paint and wood fed the blaze that soon spread to the floors above, a Delhi Fire Services official said.

A large fire burns out of control in the Himalaya House office tower in New Delhi. AP

It took 30 fire tenders seven hours to control the blaze.

On getting a call of help from a relative of one of the people trapped, seven fire tenders were rushed at around 6.20am.

The fire was upgraded to "medium serious" and then "serious" within 40 minutes and 23 more fire engines reached the spot by 7am.

"While we were fire fighting, we were told some people were still inside. We pulled out Jai Bhagwan, Shiv Kumar and Raj Kumar," said the fire official.

Deputed on the 11th floor, 57-year-old Bhagwan was rushed to the RML Hospital but he died of asphyxia. The other two guards escaped unhurt.