NEW DELHI: Nineteen-year-old Arshad Sheikh is traumatised by the screams he heard from those who were stuck inside the building engulfed by fire in Anaj Mandi. “I got married a year ago. Please save me!” one of them cried out to Arshad and his friends, who tried to help in whatever possible ways.
“The entire locality cooperated. We tried to do everything we could, before the fire brigade arrived. We even tried to douse the fire by pouring water,” he said, adding that when fire personnel entered the building, only two people were conscious.
“They were screaming. Firemen broke the window and took them out. They came out with their skin blackened, covered with soot. I gave one of them water to drink. He was panting constantly. We got to know that they died after a while. I wasn’t the one stuck inside but I could feel the horror.”
Arshad watched in horror as body after body, was pulled out of the building. “There were charred bodies and some blackened with smoke. I will never be able to forget what I saw in this life,” the teenager said.
Mohammad Kafeel, who threw a water pipe to one of the window grill, narrated the horrific sight of men, extending their hands outside the building and asking for help.
“We felt helpless. We tried to be of use, but it was all in vain as the fire was massive… So many of them suffocated to death. It is so sad that the negligence of a single person resulted in loss to so many. When they are starting a factory, there should be some basic facilities. The people didn’t even have a way out,” he said.
A Class 7 student, Mohammad Rehman, woke up due to the commotion outside, looked at recounted seeing a survivor running out of the burning building. “He came out and embraced Mullah ji,” he said.
Rehman also joined his parents in trying to help out the men stuck inside the building. Mohammad Gulabh, 35, who was visiting a relative, was full of sympathy for all the victims. “They all must have been sleeping peacefully and then such a tragic thing happened,” he said.
Electricity meters intact
Power discom BYPL claimed that the fire seems to have started in some ‘internal system’ of the building. Electricity meters were found to be intact on the ground floor, a BYPL official said to imply that the blaze did not start due to any snag
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon Monoxide led to many deaths. “We found Carbon Monoxide. The third, fourth floor was engulfed with smoke. Content of CO was more,” a NDRF officer said. With no smell or taste, the gas can kill humans when exposed to high levels.