Fire at Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar: Coaching centre students rappel down building to escape, 61 injured

#LIVE | A fire broke out at a coaching centre in Mukherjee Nagar, and 11 fire tenders were rushed to spot.

Read more: https://t.co/j7uCKQ5ceA pic.twitter.com/G9zvfiD9pa

— Express Delhi-NCR (@ieDelhi) June 15, 2023

Videos of the incident show panicked students climbing down from the windows of the building using AC wires, ropes or ladders arranged by fellow students and local residents.

Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg said they received a call from Bhandari House, Batra Complex, in Mukherjee Nagar at 12.27 pm. Eleven fire tenders were rushed to the spot, and it took nearly two hours for firefighters to douse the blaze and carry out rescue operations. Prima facie, officials said, the fire was due to a short circuit in the electricity board.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal described the incident as “very unfortunate”. “Some students have suffered minor injuries while trying to escape. Rest are safe. There is nothing to panic about. The fire has been brought under control by the fire department. The district administration is also at the spot,” he tweeted.

आग की ये घटना बेहद दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण है। कुछ छात्र बचने के प्रयास में मामूली रूप से घायल हुए हैं, बाक़ी सभी छात्र सुरक्षित हैं। घबराने की बात नहीं है, दमकल विभाग द्वारा आग पर क़ाबू पा लिया गया है। ज़िला प्रशासन भी मौक़े पर मौजूद है। https://t.co/h32QYbxuKB

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 15, 2023

Northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari also visited the spot and took stock of the situation.

In 2019, similar scenes were seen in Surat after a fire at a coaching centre. The incident had left 22 students dead — some were killed when they jumped off the building.

‘250 students inside building at the time’

The three-storey building, with a ground floor and basement, houses three-four divisions of IAS coaching centres and several offices. Around 250 students were in the building at the time.

Three coaching institutes are also being probed with regard to the absence of firefighting equipment, said police. DFS chief Garg also said on inspection, it was found that none of the floors had any fire fighting equipment. He said an inquiry is on to ascertain if the building has a fire NOC.

DCP (Northwest) Jitendra Kumar Meena said: “Prima facie, it seems like the fire started in the electricity meter on the ground floor. We are investigating if the building has fire clearance.”

He added, “200-250 students from different coaching centres were in class at the time. A case is being registered under IPC sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 (causing hurt by endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). A probe is on.”

In the early hours of Friday, a spokesperson for Sanskriti IAS said the coaching centre’s classes were going on in class number 8 on the third floor of the building.

He said the fire started at the bottom. “Students panicked and broke the windows of the third floor to escape… two of them sustained serious injuries while the rest are stable…cwe are in touch with the students’ families and are helping them with medical treatment,” said the spokesperson.

“The said building had several coaching centres, other than ours, running at the time of the incident,” added the spokesperson.