‘Rushed with ropes, helped victims escape’: Students, locals aid in rescue

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

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On seeing panicked students standing on the window sills, their fellow batchmates bought ropes from nearby stores and tied one end to a terrace or window. A few of them stood below to catch anyone who tried to jump while others put their bags on the ground to act as a landing pad.

Ajay Dixit (19), who has been studying at Sanskriti IAS coaching centre for two months now, said he was attending a history class in the basement when he saw thick smoke billowing from the ground floor.

“I quickly rushed outside with others… We saw many students on the upper floors screaming in panic and looking for a way to escape… we bought a rope and I told one of my friends to go to the third floor. He climbed onto the window sill, held on to one end of the rope and asked students to climb down… I was holding it on the ground… we tried to assuage their fears as they were panicking a lot,” Ajay recalled.

He added that he and several others helped carry the injured students to the ambulance: “We got water bottles for them as they were getting suffocated inside the building… most of them were barely able to breathe or were coughing… ladders were also arranged by us.”

Pawan (20), who was attending a class on the third floor and narrowly escaped the blaze, quickly began arranging for blankets and mattresses so those stuck on the upper floors are able to land safely without getting hurt.

“Some of us went back upstairs and helped students climb down the ropes… we were not able to see anything as the smoke had spread throughout the building and there was a stampede on the stairs, but there was unity among those on the ground to rescue the victims,” he said.

Recalling how one of the victims was bleeding from the head after she hit an AC compressor, Aman said, “I was very worried about her as she was seriously injured… she held onto the rope but lost her grip and fell… her head hit the compressor.”