Tragedy in Delhi: DMRC official, wife & child charred to death in suspected heater explosion

Family members and relatives of fire victims mourn outside the Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital in New Delhi on Tuesday.

“The neighbours rushed upstairs and knocked on the door several times. When they heard no response from inside, they decided to try to break the door open,” said a DMRC official close to the family . The challenge, however, was that the flat had two doors at the entrance — one made of wood and another made of metal mesh — which were locked from the inside.

“While one person dialled 112 helpline, another used the emergency firefighting equipment kept in the hallway to try and douse the fire,” said the official.

The DFS fire fighting vehicle arrived around 3 am and took roughly half an hour to douse the fire, said the DMRC official. When the firefighters went inside, they discovered that the fire was localised to the only bedroom inside the house.

The three bodies were found on the same bed, charred beyond recognition. “Preliminary indications suggest a possible explosion of a room heater,” said a senior police officer.

DMRC officials further added that it’s possible that the heater was being used in a closed room before it sparked off a short circuit.

“The MCB (miniature circuit breaker) was triggered shut… there was no electricity in the house when the firefighters entered. So it’s possible that the heater caught fire and the smoke made it hard for the family to wake up… they must have suffocated to death before the fire spread,” said the DMRC official.

Ajay Vimal had been working with the DMRC since 2006 and was allotted the house in 2016, said officials. Before his death, he was posted to the Barakhamba Metro Station. Vimal’s wife, Neelam, was a homemaker and their daughter, Anvi, was a Class IV student. Vimal’s elder brother and sister had come from Aligarh and Noida respectively to the mortuary to claim the bodies of the family.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police are still investigating the exact cause of fire and sequence of events that led to the deaths.