Ghaziabad: Home alone, eight-year-old trapped in fire, rescued

A house on the third storey Shakti Khand-1 of Indirapuram caught fire on Monday when an eight-year-old girl was trapped inside. She was rescued by her neighbours, who broke a windowpane of the house for entry.

A house on the third storey Shakti Khand-1 of Indirapuram caught fire on Monday when an eight-year-old girl was trapped inside. She was rescued by her neighbours, who broke a windowpane of the house for entry.

Parents left the girl at home as her school had declared a holiday due to cold weather. (HT Photo)

It took the police and the fire department one hour to douse the fire.

The incident took place around 12 noon when the girl, Vaishnavi, was alone at her home in Shakti Khand-1. Her parents had gone to work. Her father, Santosh Kumar, is a physiotherapist at a private hospital in Indirapuram and her mother, Anju Kumar, works with a private firm in Noida.

“The parents had locked their daughter inside the house and went to work as her school was shut due to the cold weather. Around 12 noon, neighbours heard Vaishnavi shouting and saw smoke coming from the house. Some of the neighbours and locals broke the windowpane in the balcony of the house,” Anil Kumar Yadav, circle officer, Indirapuram, said.

Neighbours then called the police and the fire department, who took around one hour to douse the fire. Vaishnavi said that the fire started in the washroom.

“Around 12 noon I went to the washroom and I switched on the light. It seems that I also switched on the immersion rod, which was hanging from the plug, accidentally. I then went to watch TV. After some time, I smelt smoke and saw that the washroom was full of smoke. I started shouting and ran towards the balcony. The balcony door was also locked,” Vaishnavi, a class 3 student of Modern Academy, Indirapuram, said.

The girl did not sustain any injury, however, she was taken to the hospital as she complained of congestion in her chest. The neighbours also informed her family who rushed back home.

The fire department officials confirmed that the fire started in the washroom, as a washing machine caught fire on coming into contact with the immersion rod.

“The immersion rod was switched on and came in contact with the washing machine, due to which it caught fire. There were a lot of dry clothes inside the machine that also caught fire immediately. The fire engulfed the washroom area and some other parts of the house,” Ajay Sharma, fire safety officer, Vaishali fire station, Ghaziabad, said.