New Delhi: Six people, including three children, were injured after they reportedly jumped off a building in panic to escape a fire that broke out at an adjacent building in northwest Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar Sunday morning.All six were taken to hospital and are out of danger. Some of them also fell ill after inhaling smoke, fire department officials said.No one was there in the Khadda Colony building — it houses a gym on the ground floor and a unit manufacturing judo uniforms and boxing gloves on the floors above — when the fire engulfed the ground and first floors at 11.30am.However, residents of the building opposite it started panicking when the smoke and heat, aided by a strong wind, appeared to overwhelm them. It was at this point that the six reportedly jumped off and sustained injuries. A video purportedly of the incident surfaced, showing a woman sitting on a ventilator-like structure before losing her grip and falling from a height even as some locals attempt to rescue her using what appears to be a rope or a stick.The injured are Priyanka (28) and her eight- and five-year-old daughters; Santosh (33) and her eight-year-old daughter Tanvi; and Vijay, all locals.Several fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was brought under control. Its cause is yet to be ascertained.As the property is in a “non-conforming area”, MCD said it hadn’t granted it licence.Locals rescued 10 to 12 people using a ladder from the adjacent building, a resident claimed. They also tried to douse the blaze but couldn’t, he added.Another resident said he, along with his friends, was involved in the rescue operation. They quickly removed cylinders from their houses to avert a potential disaster, he said, adding that they then took the stairs to escape. He claimed the factory was operational for the past three to four years, wondering how it was allowed to run out of a residential area.
