House catches fire in Noida’s Arun Vihar; retired brigadier, wife dead

An 86-year-old retired army brigadier and his 78-year-old wife died due to asphyxiation when their house caught fire in Noida’s Sector 29 on Friday night.

An 86-year-old retired army brigadier and his 78-year-old wife died due to asphyxiation when their house caught fire in Noida’s Sector 29 on Friday night.

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The deceased were identified as RP Singh and his wife Malti Singh. According to neighbours, the couple lived alone on the first floor in ward 5A of Arun Vihar. Their son lives in a different sector in Noida while their daughter lives a few houses down.

“It was around 8.15pm when we first saw smoke and flames emanating from the house. Several of us rushed to the house but the main door was locked from inside. It took us a while to hammer down the door and get in. Meanwhile, calls were made for the police, fire department and ambulance. Once inside, we saw both of them lying near the main door itself, after which we pulled them out and rushed them to a nearby hospital in our cars,” said Major (retd) Vinod Krishna, a neighbour.

A spokesperson for Kailash hospital said that both the husband and wife were brought dead.

Neighbours said the house was completely burnt from the inside and several of them pitched in to douse the flames even before the fire tenders reached the spot but the smoke was too thick.

“The brigadier was not in prime physical shape. The way they were found, it seems that they tried to reach the main gate but must have lost consciousness due to the smoke. It wasn’t too late but they must have been in their bedroom, probably asleep at the time when the fire first started. It is difficult to say exactly what happened but there were no burn marks on them when they were eventually found,” said Colonel (retd), Shashi Vaid, chairman, Arun Vihar residents’ welfare association.

Police officers said they suspect that the fire might have originated due to a short circuit in the house heater, though it is not absolutely certain at the moment.

“The bodies were handed over to the family who refused an autopsy due to the age of the couple. But prima facie it seems that the cause of death was suffocation due to smoke inhalation,” said a senior police official.

Officials said it took three fire tenders to completely douse the fire.

“We got the first call around 8.30pm and teams were immediately dispatched. The house had a lot of flammable items such as books and wooden furniture but we were able to control it from spreading to other houses in half an hour. The cause of the fire is unclear at the moment,” said chief fire officer, Arun Kumar Singh.

The bodies were handed over to the family for the last rites, said officials.