‘25-year-old ran back to rescue her infant son… never came out alive’: Neighbours of Ghaziabad fire victims

“Jab usko bahar nikala toh bachche ko seene pe rakha tha (When they took Farheen’s body out, she had held her son close to the chest),” a woman wailed.

Shariq’s family comprised, besides Farheen and Sheesh, his partially paralysed father and his sister Uzma, 22. When the fire engulfed the house, his father was in a mosque nearby to offer namaz. Uzma is battling for her life at GTB hospital where doctors say she has suffered 80% burns.

Shariq’s sister — Nazira, 32, her husband Saif-ur-Rehman, 35, their daughter 7-year-old Ifra and their son 10-year-old Arsh were also inside the house. Only Arsh survived.

The suspected cause of the fire was a short circuit in the electric meter. A spark fell on a gunny bag, which contained foam cups purchased for Eid, kept on the ground floor, resulting in a fire that engulfed the house, said officials.

The ground floor of the house was used as a garage where Shariq’s Vitara Brezza car, a Pulsar motorbike and a scooter were parked. All the vehicles were burnt in the fire.

Farhan, who stays next to Shariq’s house, said he saw smoke coming out of the garage. “As I opened the garage, the flames were all over my face,” he said. “I screamed for help.”

Fighting back tears, Shariq, who works as a parking attendant, said: “I had gone to fetch milk. When I returned, I saw flames everywhere.”

Shariq’s sister Nazira had come to his place with her children during their summer vacation. Her husband had come earlier in the day to stay for the night and take them home on Thursday.

Shariq’s other two sisters were inconsolable. “Ek aakhri baar goud mein le lene do mujhe bachche ko (Let me hold the baby for one last time),” Shariq’s sister, who had come from Muradpur, said.

Outside the burns unit at GTB Hospital in Delhi’s Shahdara, Mohammad Faiz, 18, a relative, sat waiting. “The doctor told us she (Uzma) is on the ventilator and is critical. Her face and body have burnt completely. Doctor told us that the ICU ward has no space and if her condition worsens, we will have to take her to Safdarjung Hospital,” said Faiz.

A relative, Tehseen Khan, said he couldn’t muster the courage to see the bodies. “They said it is all black bones, there is nothing left to see…,” he added.

There is another reason for the fire to have engulfed the entire house: The blaze started at 8 pm and for the next 42 minutes, people tried to douse the flames themselves before a neighbour, Ishtiyaq Khan, dialed 112.

The fire tenders arrived only at 9.12 pm.