NEW DELHI: Six police personnel saved the lives of 14 people, including four women and five children, who were trapped inside a building that had caught fire in south Delhi’s Sangam Vihar area late on Wednesday night.
According to the police, a PCR call was received regarding a fire in a house around 1 am on Thursday after which the staff of Neb Sarai police station rushed to the spot located at Gali No.5 Sangam Vihar and found that the said building had caught fire and flames were very high.
“Due to the fire, the building was filled with smoke, and the families on the first and the second floor were stuck and were crying for help,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Chandan Chowdhary. By the time police personnel reached there, the inferno had spread across three shops on the ground floor of the ill-fated building. “Due to this it had become extremely difficult to go to the first floor as the fire had blocked the entrance,” the official said.
The police officials led by inspector Manjeet Singh, without wasting any time, evacuated the nearby flats and called the fire department. But as over a dozen lives were at stake, the police inspector along with constable Devender and constable Sawanta Ram, decided to move ahead and brought a ladder from one of the nearby buildings.
“The ladder was then put on from outside the building with which the trio climbed and reached the first floor of the building while three other policemen took charge at the ground floor,” the senior
official said, adding all the people were safely evacuated from the building.
Meanwhile, a Fire Department official said they received information about the fire at 12.55 am after which three fire engines were rushed to the spot. “The fire was put out within an hour by 2 am,” the official said.