Four people of a family, including two kids, died and two others were injured due to ‘asphyxiation’ in an early morning fire in a four-storey building in Dilshad Garden area of north-east Delhi on Friday. The family had gone to sleep after celebrating the birthday of Harshu who had turned 12. She was killed in the fire along with her younger brother, father and grandfather.
Fire department officials said while the fire was ‘mild’, the victims died of suffocation as the first-floor of the building got filled with smoke due to the fire in the two-wheelers parked on the ground floor. Fire started from the electricity meter board installed on the ground floor of the building.
“Two male and two children have died in the incident. Two women were also in injured in the incident. The four dead and one injured woman are from the same family. It seems the first-floor family tried to escape and got trapped in the smoke as the victims were found dead on the staircase of the building,” chief fire officer Atul Garg told Hindustan Times. The victims were identified as Vijay Kumar Verma (63), Sanjay Verma (45), Harshu (12), Chiku (4).
Occupants of the other floors escaped the fire as they went out in their balcony or on the rooftop, Garg added.
