New Delhi
Three siblings, who were planning to move out of a five-storey building in Tughlakabad Extension on the day when a fire broke out, had a narrow escape as the blaze left three dead and many more injured, as per their account to HT.
Twenty-four-year-old Mumtaz and her husband Deepak, 31, reside in a fifth-floor flat of the building and had packed their belongings for a shift on Friday. Since Deepak had to visit Agra for personal reasons, Mumtaz’s sisters, Seema, 19, and Karina, 16, stayed overnight to provide her with company.
Seema, who spoke to HT after the incident, said that her sister wanted to move out of the building due to unbearable heat in summer and that they were standing in the balcony in the night due to the heat when the fire broke out.
“All the doors were jammed, and people downstairs told us to go to the roof and jump onto the neighbouring roof from there. Karina and I went towards the door, while Mumtaz was looking for her pet cat. It was pitch dark, and we could not see anything,” she said.
The extreme heat and smoke posed a problem at every step of the escape, she said. “The door would not open at first. When we finally managed to push it, the heat was so intense that the metal rod stuck to our hands, leaving us badly injured. As soon as we reached the neighbour’s roof, they took us downstairs and rushed us to an ambulance. After that, I blacked out and do not remember anything,” she said.
She said that Mumtaz was not able to find her pet cat, and sustained burn injuries and suffocated due to inhaling smoke.
Deepak, who returned upon learning about the fire, said, “We had planned to shift to another locality nearby. The rent for this one was too high and it would get too hot on the fifth floor. We had gotten a flat on the second floor in the other building, and had packed all our belongings.”
Speaking at the Safdarjung Hospital’s burn ward, he said that Mumtaz was stable. “She inhaled a lot of smoke, and so, had pain in her lungs. Her hands and legs hurt too. She will not be discharged today, but maybe within a week or two.”
Mumtaz’s uncle, Javed Alam, said that Mumtaz’s parents lived nearby in Govindpuri. “Seema is 18 and studying accounts in college. Her last exam is tomorrow. Karina is 16 and was repeating Class 10. Mumtaz was close to her sisters and wanted to spend time with them,” he said.
