Delhi shop fire: How a window-less room turned into a chimney; 4 dead

NEW DELHI: Four employees of an electronics shop died and one is battling for his life after a fire broke out in the business establishment in west Delhi's Raja Garden Chowk area on Monday afternoon.The deceased have been identified as Aayushi (22), Payal (20), Amandeep Kaur (22) and Ravi (28) .According to police, a distress call about a fire in a commercial building was received around 3pm at Moti Nagar police station.

Upon reaching the spot, police found that five people were trapped. They were taken out of the building and rushed to a hospital where four of them succumbed to their injuries. The fifth employee, who is injured, has been identified as Sandeep, an accountant. A senior police officer said, "The employees were having lunch at the time of the incident and four of them died of suffocation."Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said they received a call about the fire around 3.08pm and five fire tenders with 30 firemen were rushed to the spot. The fire was doused by 4.10pm.A fire officer who was present at the spot said the blaze had started on the first floor of the three-storeyed building, which was being used as a godown to store fridge items.

The official said smoke rose to the second floor, where the employees were seated in a small office surrounded by refrigerators. He said the building contained several electronic appliances, including washing machines and air conditioners."The employees were in an enclosed room with no ventilation. Due to the smoke, the window-less room turned into a chimney," he said, adding, "a wall of the room had to be broken down to let the smoke out.""There was neither any fire safety exit in the building nor functional fire safety equipment in the shop. The employees were trapped in a small, narrow room at the time of the incident," added the official.The official said the only way to access the first floor, where the fire was ignited, was through two staircases. The second floor, where the victims were stuck, was only accessible through an internal staircase, and that path too was blocked by appliances.

Police said investigation is under way to ascertain the cause of the fire and a case will be registered.Sunil Singhla, a relative of victim Amandeep Kaur, said she had been working in the shop's cashier since last October. "She was having lunch with her four colleagues when the fire broke out. They rushed to the terrace to escape, but couldn't find one. Unable to get out, they returned and eventually lost consciousness," he said.