NEW DELHI: A haunting image of a young woman along with her husband clinging to a narrow ledge of a burning hotel in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar did not only come to symbolise the horror of the blaze on Wednesday morning, but also helped relatives staying nearby identify the couple now fighting for their lives.
The woman in the viral photograph is Ubah, 22, who along with her husband Mohammad Wasam, 24, had travelled to Delhi for IVF treatment, carrying with them the quiet anticipation of starting a family. Married for three years, the couple had arrived in the city recently for medical care and was staying with relatives before shifting to the hotel just a day before the fire.
The couple’s image of clinging to the building apparently travelled beyond Delhi, appearing in international media. For Ubah’s relatives, this image was not just another viral visual. It was recognition.
Standing in the waiting lounge of Max Hospital, a visibly shaken Nayeema, a relative from Somali, Kenya, recounted the last time she saw them. “They were staying with us at our rented accommodation till last evening. They insisted on moving to a hotel and shifted there on Tuesday. It is quite tragic and unbelievable,” she said.
The viral image, widely circulated in foreign media, was how the family realised the couple was among those caught in the blaze. “We identified them through that picture. That is how we came to know they were there,” Nayeema added.
Wasam is currently admitted in the ICU, while Ubah remains in the operation theatre, battling severe injuries. “We are yet to get clear information from inside. This is all we know for now. We may know other people who were there, but no one else has been identified yet,” she said in a breaking voice.
Nayeema, who lives in a rented accommodation near the hospital, said the hours since the incident have been filled with uncertainty and fear, as families wait for updates on their loved ones.