Around 8 to 9 in the morning. Mohammad Shahrukh, who lives in Hauz Rani, Delhi, was going to work. When he reached Malviya Nagar, he saw smoke coming out of Flourish Stay Hotel. He ran to the hotel and saw his uncle and brother making arrangements to rescue people trapped inside. Both were placing mattresses below near the hotel.
Shahrukh says that as soon as the mattresses were placed, the staff first jumped out of the hotel window. They learned from them that more than 40 people were trapped inside. Most of them were foreigners. Some guests were sleeping and were not even aware of the fire. People nearby called the fire brigade and ambulance. There was traffic congestion in the area, so it took some time for the fire brigade team to arrive.
21 people died in the fire, including 17 foreign nationals. They are from Bangladesh and African countries.
Stacked 5-6 mattresses on top of each other, 8 saved their lives by jumping
Arman Khan’s mattress shop is in front of the hotel. He says, ‘there was a massive fire on the ground floor of the hotel. Neither could anyone go inside nor come outside. People trapped on all three floors of the hotel were trying to jump from the windows. We took out mattresses from the shop and placed 5 to 6 mattresses stacked on top of each other near the hotel. About 8 people saved their lives by jumping from the windows.’
‘By then the fire brigade vehicles had started extinguishing the fire. When the fire was put out, 10-12 of us went inside the hotel. Many people were lying unconscious inside due to suffocation from the smoke. They were wrapped in sheets and brought out. We rescued about 40-45 people. Whoever was sitting or lying inside, in whatever position, was burnt to ashes.’
‘A woman from the first floor was calling out for help-help. Many of us were engaged in the rescue, so I don’t know whether the woman survived or not.’ Was there staff along with guests in the hotel? On this, Arman says, ‘we saw staff members in the beginning. Then where they went, I don’t know.’
Many people saved their lives by jumping from the first and second floors of the hotel. During this, several people also sustained injuries to their hands and legs.
Girl sitting at reception, found burnt in the same condition
Aamir Khan, who was part of the rescue operation, says, ‘there was a terrible fire on the ground floor and first floor. Even after it was extinguished, the scene was so horrific that a weak-hearted person couldn’t see the condition inside. There was so much smoke inside that it was difficult to breathe. The girl sitting at the reception on the first floor, we found her burnt in the same condition.’
‘The fire had not reached the basement, so we cut the shutter and went there to check on the people trapped inside, but it was very dark inside. We searched and rescued people from bathrooms and rooms. Most were unconscious. We brought out about 20 to 25 people using sheets. Most of them were foreign guests, only 3 were Indian. Many of them were given CPR and sent to the hospital.
Vehicles parked on two-lane road, how can fire brigade come
Shailendra Tilak, who runs a medical shop near the hotel, says, ‘there is always a crowd in the area because of Max Hospital. People come here from other countries for treatment. The family members who come with the patients stay in these hotels. For the past 6-7 years, 10-12 hotels here have been running because of these people.’
Regarding the fire brigade not reaching on time due to traffic jam, he says, ‘it has been 40 years since the 6-lane road was approved here, but it has not been implemented yet. Vehicles remain parked on the two-lane road, so there is no space even for vehicles to come and go.’
Foreign woman standing at hotel window calling for help. Most of those who died in the accident are foreign nationals.
Residential area turned into hotel hub, no safety arrangements either
After this incident, people living in Hauz Rani are raising questions about running hotels in a residential area. Shaheen Khan says that here hotels are running in the name of BNB (Bed and Breakfast) certified home stays. Most of the guests staying here are foreigners, with more people coming from South Africa and Afghanistan. If you check the hotel register at Gate Number-1, you will find records of about 20 hotels.
Under BNB, permission is given to run homestays with 5 to 6 rooms, but here a 3 to 4 storey hotel with 25 rooms is operating on that certificate. These have neither fire safety arrangements nor emergency exits. In the past few years, old houses have been converted into new hotel buildings.
After the fire at Flourish Stay and registration of an unintentional murder case, police have taken hotel owner Lovkesh Bajaj into custody.
8 to 10 hotels within a radius of just 500 meters Within a 400 to 500 meter radius of the Flourish Stay hotel in Malviya Nagar where the fire broke out, there are 8 to 10 hotels. Within a 100 meter radius, there are three hotels including Flourish Stay. All three are owned by Lokesh Bajaj. Their names are:
1- Flourish Stay 2- Flourish Inn Guest House 3- Green Residency Hotel
To inspect the safety arrangements including fire safety, we reached Flourish Inn Guest House. Like Flourish Stay, here too we found 5 rooms and a kitchen in the basement. In the basement, neither was any fire extinguisher installed, nor was there any ventilation arrangement.
For entry and exit in the basement, there is a narrow gate through which only one person can exit at a time. Apart from this, there is no emergency exit. There is a corridor wide enough for one person to pass through, and this is the only way to access the rooms.
The corridor in the basement of Flourish Inn Hotel is so narrow that it is difficult for even two people to pass through at the same time.
There are 3 floors above the basement. Each floor has 6-6 rooms and two fire extinguishers are installed outside, but there is no ventilation even on the upper floors. Fixed glass is installed in the windows, which has no way out except breaking them in case of emergency.
When we reached inside, the hotel was found empty. There was no staff inside. An elderly person was staying in one room, but he was not ready to talk.
