Two children killed in fire in 4-storey building in south Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh

Two children who were rescued from the fire and rushed to the nearby Holy Family hospital were declared brought dead.

In southeast Delhi’s Jamia Nagar, two cousins aged 6 and 7 years died when a fire broke out at their house on Tuesday afternoon. Twelve hours ago, their family had hosted a party at the house to celebrate the birth of a girl child. Their friends and extended family had come to the house to join in the celebrations. At the party on Monday night, locals had seen the family rejoice the birth of a new member in the house. On Tuesday, they were at the Holy Family hospital to collect the bodies of the two children.

At around 1pm on Tuesday, locals in Abu Fazal Enclave area, near the banks of the Yamuna of Jamia Nagar, saw smoke billowing from the second floor of the building. Police are probing what started the fire but suspect it may have been caused by a short circuit in the second floor of the building, where Aisha, 7, and Zaid, 6, were playing.

Delhi police said they received a call about the fire at around 1.05pm following which six fire tenders, four ambulances, and a vehicle of District Disaster Management Authority was sent to the area. Fire officials found the two kids unconscious with burn injuries in one of the rooms of the second floor flat and rushed them to the hospital where the two were declared brought dead.

“We received a call at around 1pm about the fire in J Block. Six fire tenders were sent to the spot. The fire had started on the second floor and spread to the upper floors. By around 3pm, the fire was doused but there were two causalities,” said a police officer.

The two children were grandson and granddaughter of Yasin Malik, 58, who lives with his three sons in the five-storey building. Malik owns furniture shops in Jamia Nagar and Sarita Vihar.

Aisha was his eldest son Ehsaan’s daughter while Zaid was his daughter Rehana’s son. Malik and his three sons were not at home when the fire started. His wife and daughters were at the other flats on the upper floors of the same building.

“I was below the building, when I heard people shouting,” Malik’s nephew Sauraz, who suffered burns while trying to rescue his relatives, said.

“I turned back and saw smoke billowing from the balcony of the second floor. I rescued one of my aunts who had come to the second floor. The others had gone to the terrace. There was so much smoke that none of us could go in. The fire officials came and found two of my cousins unconscious .”

Sauraz said one of his aunts had climbed to the adjacent neighbour’s balcony and survived the fire. The others were saved because of a brave and dramatic rescue attempt by locals who put a ladder across the balconies of two fourth floor flats and crossed the two buildings.

Police said Malik’s daughter Rehana, who was possibly in the third or fourth floor flats, managed to save the other two kids from outside the second floor flat. “It is possible that Zaid and Aisha went inside the room when the fire spread. Maybe the lady(Rehana) did not realise that the two kids were inside,” said a police constable.

Delhi fire department’s chief fire officer, Atul Garg, said the two children were found on the bed. Garg said the two may have been sleeping or went inside to escape the fire and fainted.

“They have burns too. It looks like a short circuit triggered the fire.”