Two residents dead after fire breaks out at senior citizens’ care home in Delhi

The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said a call was made about the fire at 5.15 am on Sunday.

“We were informed about the fire and reached there within 13 minutes. The fire was on the second and third floor of the centre, which is owned by the Max Group. A total of six people were rescued by DFS personnel. Two bodies were found at the spot.

The building has a basement and three floors,” DFS Chief Atul Garg said. Apart from those rescued by the DSF, others were rescued by attendants and police personnel.

“By 6.50 pm, the rescue operation was completed and the fire was doused. Around 8.15 am, the last unit came back and informed us,” Garg said.

Officials said the rescued residents did not suffer any “major” injuries and are all stable. They said the fire started in the room of one of the deceased and spread to other rooms. The two women purportedly collapsed of asphyxia due to heavy smoke, and then died in the fire.

The bodies of the deceased will be sent for an autopsy and no case has been registered yet, police said.

Sources said Kanchan had been living at the centre since December. Her children are based in the US, UK and Singapore. Kamal’s family lives in the Greater Kailash-CR Park area. She had been living at the centre for eight-nine months.

According to care home officials, residents pay between Rs 1.62 lakh to Rs 2.34 lakh a month for their stay. There are three different types of rooms available at the centre — twin-sharing rooms, single rooms and suites. A twin-sharing room has two beds and each resident has to pay Rs 1.62 lakh a month. The single room is priced at around Rs 1.74 lakh a month and a suite costs around Rs 2.34 lakh monthly.

DCP (South) Chandan Chowdhary said all personnel from the nearby police station reached the care home after the fire and helped with the rescue. “We helped rescue many of the residents… One senior citizen has been moved to Max Hospital, Saket, and 12 others have been moved to a hospital in Okhla,” he said.

While the cause behind the incident is not yet clear, Delhi Police sources said candles were lit in one of the rooms as part of New Year celebrations and that this could have led to the incident.

Local residents and some staff at the care home alleged that firemen arrived late to the spot. The DFS, however, denied the allegations and said its firemen arrived in less than 13 minutes. DFS officials said any delay in the rescue operation was because the care home staff responded late to the fire. They also said they found “incense sticks, pooja thaali and two electric heaters” in the room where the fire started.

Rajesh Shukla, Additional Division Officer (South), DFS, was among the first responders. “When we reached the building, one of the rooms was gutted. The fire had already spread to the corridor. We directly reached the third floor. I was the first to enter the room. All the furniture was burnt and a woman’s charred body was found on the bed. I also saw incense sticks, some pooja items and two electric heaters in the room. The heaters were placed close to the bed. I suspect it could be either the electric or the pooja items that led to the fire,” he told The Indian Express.

One body was found on the bed while the other was found in the corridor.

A senior officer from the DFS, who did not want to be named, told The Indian Express, “As per our information, we responded on time. The fire wasn’t big, but the women died because the call was made late. The staffers (of the care home) tried to douse the fire on their own but did not succeed. We wish they had called us earlier. They saved people on the lower floors, but when we reached, there were seven-eight people trapped on the third floor. Most of them did not even know that a fire had broken out, and some were sleeping. One of the glass windows near the staircase was also broken, which means the attendants tried breaking the glass to rescue people. This must have taken time. We came and rescued many residents trapped on the third floor, but sadly, the two women died since they were closest to the source of the fire.”

One of the care home attendants, who was called to the CR Park Police Station for inquiry, said the fire quickly spread to all the furniture.

“It was very early, and most of us were in the rooms. We sensed smoke coming out of one room and rushed to get the fire extinguishers. The fire was such that it immediately spread to all the furniture. We tried saving everyone, but couldn’t see anything because of the smoke. We started evacuating residents and called both the police and fire brigade, but they came late. We could not get to the third floor, and the fire had spread to several rooms,” said the attendant, who did not want to be named.

“We have worked with both the women who died. They were sweet. The grandson of one of the women had come to meet her on December 31, and they did pooja. There were candles lit. We think this led to the fire,” the attendant said.

The Delhi Commission for Women has issued a notice to the Delhi Police, seeking details about whether the centre had a fire NOC as well as the required licences and clearances from the government.

In a statement, the Antara Care Home said, “The fire occurred on the third floor of the facility. Four fire brigades reached the spot and managed to bring the blaze under control within 30 minutes…While all other residents/patients, doctors and team members have been evacuated safely from the facility, two of the residents have unfortunately succumbed to the fire…We are actively cooperating with the investigating authorities and will take appropriate actions as required.”

Regarding the NOC and clearances, an official from the company said, “We have all requisite approvals in place. All the necessary equipment and appliances were there and in working condition. We adhere to all the necessary and prescribed safety procedures, such as a designated number of fire extinguishers on every floor, appropriate fire extinguishing equipment, access to water for the hose wheel, and so on.”

Curated For You

India vs South Africa 2nd ODI Highlights: Aiden Markram stars with a century as SA defeat IND by 4 wickets to level series at 1-1

MCD By Election Result 2025 Highlights: Greater Kailash, Chandni Chowk and Dwarka-B among 7 key wards bagged by BJP, AAP wins 3

ED attaches Rs 200 crore assets of Kolkata businessman in bank fraud case