17 killed in fire at shoddy New Delhi hotel, 4 others hurt

NEW DELHI (AP) — A fire engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in central New Delhi early Tuesday, killing 17 people and injuring at least four others, including a woman from Myanmar who leaped from an upper floor to escape the flames, Indian authorities said.

Three of those killed were members of a family who had traveled to India's capital from Kerala in southern India to attend a wedding, family friend Arvind Vishwanathan said outside a hospital mortuary.

Most of the deaths at the Arpit Palace Hotel in Karol Bagh, an area in India's capital city popular with tourists because of its shops and budget hotels, were due to suffocation, said Satyendar Kumar Jain, the Delhi government minister of health and urban development, as he toured the site after the fire was extinguished.

The hotel developer had a permit from the fire department to build up to four stories — the standard height in central Delhi. But the building appeared to have six floors, including a basement and a kitchen built on top of the roof, Jain said.

"Carelessness on the part of authorities is evident. We are going to investigate, and the wrongdoer will be punished," he said.

Hotel guest Sivanand Chand, 43, said he was jolted awake around 4 a.m., struggling to breathe.

"When I got out of my room, I could hear 'help, help!' from adjoining rooms," Chand said.

The hallway was dark and thick with smoke, so Chand turned back into his room and opened a window. He saw flames rising fast.

"In 15 minutes, the whole room was black," he said.

A video shot by a worker at a nearby hotel showed flames consuming the top of the building, which authorities said contained an unauthorized makeshift kitchen formed from sheets of fiberglass.

Chand said rescue efforts were delayed because the first fire trucks arrived with manual ladders that weren't tall enough to reach his floor.

He and some other guests were eventually evacuated through his window by a hydraulic lift.

Some 100 firefighters and 25 fire engines responded to the fire, which engulfed all but the ground floor of the hotel, fire officer Vijay Paul said.

About three dozen people were rescued, Paul said.

It was not immediately clear how many guests and staff were inside the hotel, which had 43 guest rooms, according to its website.

Rescuers had to break windows to evacuate people because wood paneling in the corridors and stairwells fed the flames, said fire official Atul Garg.

"That is the escape route. People have to come out of the room and take the staircase but the staircase itself was on fire, so how they will go out?" Garg said.

In a video Garg shared with The Associated Press, firefighters can be seen carrying victims slumped over their shoulders through an unlit, charred stairwell.

Authorities were still investigating what sparked the blaze, Deputy Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Randhawa said.

Among those injured was a woman from Myanmar who sustained spinal injuries after jumping from an upper floor, according to Deputy Fire Chief Sunil Choudhary. She was being treated at a local hospital, he said, declining to provide her name.

The other injured people were also taken to hospitals, but their conditions were not immediately known.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet that he was deeply saddened by the loss of lives. "I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. May the injured recover soon." </s> A massive fire engulfed a hotel in central Delhi's congested Karol Bagh area in the early hours of Tuesday, killing 17 people, including two people who jumped off the building in a desperate bid to save themselves, officials said.

IMAGE: A view of charred remains on the rooftop of Karol Bagh's Hotel Arpit Palace where a massive fire broke out, in New Delhi.

The deceased included three Myanmar nationals and an Indian Revenue Service officer, Suresh Kumar, 52.

Two staffers of hotel Arpit Palace also died. Kumar and the hotel cook, Tara Chand, jumped off the building in a desperate bid to escape but died.

A 33-year-old Myanmar national, Chan Chan, also jumped off the over 25-year-old structure but survived with a fracture in her leg.

Prime facie, the cause of the fire was suspected to be a short-circuit, the police and fire officials said.

According to hospital authorities at least four others were injured. However, the police said only one other person was injured.

The police said that out of 17 people killed, 15 have been identified. Autopsy was conducted on five bodies which were handed over to their families. Initially, the fire officials said a child had died in the blaze but later the police said it was the body of an adult male victim which had charred and shrunk beyond recognition.

IMAGE: A massive fire broke out at Hotel Arpit Palace in Delhi's Karol Bagh.

According to a statement issued by the Kerala government, three of the deceased belonged to the state and three others were from Tamil Nadu.

The police said one victim belonged to Gujarat.

In a late evening development, the police arrested hotel's general manager Rajender and manager Vikas on the charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

"A case has been registered against the two and the hotel owner who is absconding since the incident," DCP (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa told reporters.

According to the fire department, they received a call at around 4.35 am about the incident following which 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot.

It took nearly four hours for them to douse the fire that had swept through all the floors of the five-storey building which had a terrace kitchen in violation of rules. Flames resurfaced by noon, but were later doused.

Dilip Trivedi, 58, a resident of Ahmedabad who came to Delhi for a business deal, had a miraculous escape.

"At around 4 am, I heard cries of people shouting for help. When I opened my door, I saw very dense smoke in the corridor area. Then I took my bag and rushed downstairs," said Trivedi who was occupying a room on the first floor of the hotel.

IMAGE: A massive fire breaks out in Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh area in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Bhupendra Rajput, an eyewitness who helped in rescue operation, said, "We were inside my room at a hotel nearby the incident happened. People were shouting for help and we immediately rushed to the spot."

Different agencies pointed out several violations on the part of the hotel's management, including closure of the emergency exit gates at the time of fire, which trapped the victims inside the establishment.

The hotel was first granted a licence in October 2005 and was renewed every year. The last renewal was done on May 25, 2018 and was valid till March 31, said an official of North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

IMAGE: According to eyewitnesses, most deaths were caused due to suffocation.

"The stamped happened as the stairs were narrow. We pulled them out and helped clear the way for other," Rajput said.

The roads were blocked near the spot due to which the fire tenders took time to reach there. The first tender that reached the spot did not have adequate water. If that fire tender had enough water, it would have taken less time to control it, Rajput added.

Several politicians, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sheila Dikshit and state Bharatiya Janata Party president Manoj Tiwari, visited the spot to take the stock of the situation.

IMAGE: A fireman looks out of a window of the hotel where a fire broke out in New Delhi.

According to Alphons, the emergency exit of the hotel was 'too narrow' and also locked.

The Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe into the incident and announced Rs 5 lakh for the next of those killed in the fire.

IMAGE: NDRF and police officials investigate after a massive fire broke out at Karol Bagh's Arpit Palace hotel.

Following the incident, the Aam Aadmi Party government also cancelled an event that was to be held on Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of the AAP dispensation.

'Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives,' he tweeted.

WATCH: Fire occurred due to ducting which spread to hotel rooms: Balan Mani, VP, Delhi Hotel Association

The hotel had a canopy on its terrace with chairs and tables laid out, indicating that there was an open restaurant operating there, fire officials said, adding that there was wooden panelling in the rooms that could have helped the fire spread.

It was a nightmare without end, said Somshekhar, who had come to Delhi from Kerala with his family to attend a wedding Ghaziabad and was staying in the hotel.

He lost three members of his family.

IMAGE: Survivors leave with their belongings from Karol Baghs Hotel Arpit Palace.

They were residents of Ernakulam district in Kerala and were getting ready to go to Haridwar when the fire started.

"Ten of us were rescued by police and fire teams. We had booked four rooms in the hotel. We were all ready early morning to go to Haridwar when suddenly there was a power cut. They switched on the generator and there was a heavy smoke," he said.

IMAGE: A woman cries as she cannot find her relative who was staying in the hotel where the fire broke out.

His sister Jayashree alerted them to the smoke and rushed out to check what was happening, he said. She was later found dead.

IMAGE: Family members of the victims who died during Hotel Arpit Palace fire accident, wait outside the mortuary at RML hospital in New Delhi.

"The entire pathway was full of smoke. My mother and brother were along with my sister at the time.

"I immediately came to the room and opened the room for fresh air and we managed to escape. We were at the second floor of the hotel," he said. </s> NEW DELHI - At least 17 people died when a fire ripped through a budget hotel in Delhi on Tuesday, prompting authorities to launch a safety check of other buildings in the vicinity.

Victims included a woman and a child who jumped from a window to escape the blaze that broke out before dawn at the budget Hotel Arpit Palace.

Images showed flames and thick smoke billowing out of the top floor of the hotel, located in a congested part of the Indian capital.

Guests at the hotel, popular with budget and business travellers, were unable to use corridors to escape because of wooden panelling, according to a fire officer.

Delhi home minister Satyendra Jain told reporters that rules were flouted to construct extra floors, with a terrace being used as an open-air restaurant.

He also directed the fire department to inspect other buildings in the congested area and file a report within a week.

Three Myanmar citizens staying at the hotel were missing, the NDTV news network reported.

Most of the guests were sleeping at the time the fire broke out and suffocated to death.

Four people were injured in the incident.

It is estimated around 120 people were inside the hotel -- built around 25 years ago -- when the fire started.

"We have confirmed with hospital authorities the toll is now 17 including a child," Sunil Choudhary, a senior fire brigade official, told AFP.

G.C. Misra, Delhi fire services director, said the blaze had been brought under control and that 35 people were rescued by firefighters in an operation lasting several hours and involving at least 25 fire engines.

"There was wooden panelling on corridors because of which people could not use corridors to evacuate," another fire officer told reporters.

Police said they were investigating the cause, and a judicial probe has been ordered into the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India.

The hotel is in the Karol Bagh district, a busy commercial centre crisscrossed by narrow alleys where electric wires dangle overhead.

The area, which houses hundreds of hotels, shops and offices, is packed with tourists and shoppers.

Three members of an extended family were among the dead. They were part of a group of 13 from southern Kerala state who had come to Delhi for a wedding.

Fires are common across India because of poor safety standards and lax enforcement of regulations.

Activists say builders and landlords often amend building plans to add space and ignore safety norms to save costs.

Many commercial establishments in the city lack emergency exits or fire fighting equipment.

Jain said hotels and similar establishments were not supposed to extend beyond four floors in that area.

"This hotel had been built up to six floors. It's gross negligence on the part of the officers who allowed the extra floors to be built," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "deeply saddened" by the loss of life in a statement posted on Twitter.

Building fires are particularly frequent in big Indian cities where millions live in cramped and dilapidated properties.

In December, eight people were killed when a fire engulfed a hospital in Mumbai. In 2017, 14 people were killed, also in Mumbai, when a huge blaze roared through a popular restaurant. </s> At least 17 people have died in a fire that broke out at a hotel in the heart of the Indian capital New Delhi, officials say.

The fire broke out early on Tuesday at the five-storey Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh, an area popular with budget tourists that has several hotels and markets.

A woman and a child, who were among the victims, were killed when they tried jumping from a window to escape the fire.

News reports said there were about 150 people asleep in the 65-room hotel when the blaze broke out.

"A total of 17 people have died and two are injured, still at hospitals," said senior fire services official Vipin Kental, who added that the blaze had been brought under control.

"The fire broke out from the top floors, likely due to an electric short-circuit. Since it was early morning, most of the victims were sleeping and died due to suffocation," Kental said.

Mobile phone videos recorded by witnesses showed huge flames on the terrace of the building. A person was seen dangling from the terrace and then jumping off.

Kental said the hotel was operating a restaurant from the top floor with inflammable fibre-glass sheets, that violated fire safety norms.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said there would be strict actions against those responsible for the incident and ordered a probe.

"Magistrate enquiry ordered. Visible violations of building by laws, building constructed six storeys including one temporary floor instead of permissible 4 floors. Ordered fire inspection of buildings in the area," Jain tweeted.

Deadly fires are common in India and are often made worse by poor safety measures and a lack of fire escapes.

The fires are often caused by substandard or ageing electrical material.

In December, a major fire at a government-run hospital in Mumbai killed 10 people and injured over 130 others.

Officials said the hospital had not complied with regulations in a recent fire safety audit. </s> A massive fire killed at least 17 people at the Hotel Arpit Palace in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 12, 2019. </s> NEW DELHI — A fire engulfed a shoddily built budget hotel in New Delhi early Tuesday, killing 17 people, Indian authorities said.

Most of the deaths at the Arpit Palace Hotel were due to suffocation, according to an official.

One hotel guest said rescue efforts were delayed because fire engine ladders couldn't reach his floor.

The Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh, an area in India's capital city full of shops and budget hotels that is popular with tourists, had 43 guest rooms, according to its website.

About three dozen people were rescued from the hotel.

Among those rescued was Sivanand Chand, 43, a hotel guest who was jolted awake around 4 a.m., struggling to breathe.

"When I got out of my room, I could hear, 'help, help!' from adjoining rooms," Chand said, adding that he opened the window and saw flames rising very fast. "In 15 minutes, the whole room was black." </s> At least 19 killed in deadly India hospital fire

At least 19 people were killed Monday when a fire broke out at a leading private hospital in an eastern Indian city, police said, with officials warning the death toll could rise.

More than 40 critically ill patients were trapped in an intensive care ward by the blaze, which is believed to have been triggered by an electric short circuit on the second floor of the SUM hospital building in Bhubaneswar, the capital of coastal Odisha state.

“We can confirm 19 deaths in the incident,” Bhubaneswar police commissioner Yogesh Khurania told AFP.

“More than 100 patients have been shifted to other hospitals. Many of them are critical and the death toll may rise further,” he said.

Khurania said initial reports suggested that most of the victims had died due to smoke inhalation, with toxic smoke filling the entire floor of the building and hampering rescue efforts.

Local television stations showed images of fire fighters wearing masks smashing glass panes to enter the building as they struggled to save patients from suffocating at the 1000-bed hospital.

Sharat Kumar Sahu, a police officer at the site of the blaze, told AFP that the fire started in the dialysis ward in the four story building and quickly spread to the intensive care unit.

Most of the critical patients were on ventilators and died in the blaze, he said.

Sahu added that more than 100 fire fighters had battled the fire — which started at around 7:30 pm (1400 GMT) — for some five hours until it was brought under control.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter it was a “mind-numbing” tragedy, expressing his grief over the loss of life and promising to help the injured.

More than 90 patients were killed at a private hospital in eastern Kolkata city in 2011 after a fire raged through the premier hospital, trapping many patients inside the building.

Most of the victims died due to inhaling toxic gases, autopsy reports later revealed.

Sixteen officials from the AMRI hospital are facing trial in court on charges of culpable homicide, violating safety rules and negligence. </s> NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Tuesday registered an FIR against the management of Hotel Arpit Palace, where a massive fire broke out killing 17 people, officials said.

The case has been registered under sector section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

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Conviction under both the sections leads to seven years of imprisonment, the officials said.

The fire, which broke on early hours of Tuesday swept through the four-storied hotel killed 17 guests, including two people who jumped off the building in a desperate bid to save themselves, the officials said.

A child was among those killed in the blaze. </s> At least 15 students die in India fire

Ahmedabad, India: At least 15 students died Friday in a fire in a building in India housing a college, officials said, with images on television and social media showing people jumping to escape the blaze.



"The students lost their life both because of the fire and jumping out of the building," Deepak Sapthaley, a fire official in the western city of Surat, told AFP.

Ten of them died from the jump and five from the fire, with up to 20 being treated in hospital, he said. The images showed blazing orange flames and black smoke billowing out of the building.

Sapthaley added that 50 or 60 people were inside the coaching institute on the top floor of the building when the blaze began. The cause was not yet known.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who comes from Gujarat state where the fire broke out, said on Twitter: "Extremely anguished by the fire tragedy in Surat.

"My thoughts are with bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly. Have asked the Gujarat Government and local authorities to provide all possible assistance to those affected."

Local officials said that the fire had spread quickly because of the material used in the roof.
At least 13 are killed in a fire in New Delhi, India.