Father in ICU, son rented rooms to be near him: 8 of extended family dead in South Delhi fire
The family had come to Delhi after Radhe Shyam Aggarwal, a man in his 70s, had been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Max Hospital in Saket for several days
Scenes of grief outside the AIIMS Trauma Centre on Wednesday. (Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav)
For hours at a stretch Wednesday, members of the Aggarwal family moved between hospital corridors and mortuaries, showing photographs on their phones and clinging to fragments of hope. Some waited outside the AIIMS mortuary. Others stood in the crowded corridors of Max Hospital and AIIMS Trauma Centre, refreshing their phones for updates that never came. By evening, their worst fears came true: eight from the extended family had perished in the hotel blaze.
Victim admitted in ICU, family arranged local stay near ailing
The family had come to Delhi after Radhe Shyam Aggarwal, a man in his 70s, had been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Max Hospital in Saket for several days. His son Vivek Aggarwal, a Gurgaon resident in his late 40s who had worked as a director at a multinational company, rented rooms at Flourish Stays, a bed-and-breakfast in Hauz Rani, just minutes from the hospital.
Vivek stayed there with his mother Premlata, his wife Tarjani and their two daughters, Jeeviska and Waria.
“They chose the hotel because it was close to the hospital,” said Prem Bansal, Vivek’s father-in-law. “The family wanted to be nearby all the time. We were hoping he (Radhe Shyam) would be discharged soon.”
The family had come to Delhi after Radhe Shyam Aggarwal, a man in his 70s, had been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Max Hospital in Saket for several days. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)
Family visit turned into tragedy
One of Vivek’s daughters had flown in from Bengaluru to visit her grandfather, according to Vijay Aggarwal, Vivek’s cousin. What began as a short family visit soon turned into a tragedy.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Vivek managed to make a frantic call to a relative in Delhi’s Kotla area. “Yahan pe aag lag gayi (There is a fire here),” he reportedly said.
It was the last message many family members would hear from him.
As news spread, nearly 40 relatives rushed to Max Hospital, fearing that Vivek and the four family members staying with him were among those trapped inside the B&B facility.
But the tragedy stretched beyond Vivek’s immediate family. Also staying at the hotel were Vivek’s maternal uncle, Ashok Goyal from Kishangarh, and his mother’s sister Kamla and her husband Jimri.
“The doctors had said that Radhe Shyam’s health had worsened. That is why all the close relatives had come,” said one of the relatives, who did not wish to be named.
By Wednesday afternoon, six maternal cousins had gathered outside the AIIMS mortuary while Ashok Goyal’s son travelled from Kishangarh to Delhi to help identify the dead.
Outside the AIIMS Trauma Centre, amid a steady flow of grieving families, patients and police personnel, Yogesh Agarwal spent hours moving from one enquiry desk to another. A resident of Shalimar Bagh, he was searching for Ashok and Kamla. “We just want to know where they are,” he said. “Even if there is bad news, the uncertainty is unbearable.”
By evening, the family’s worst suspicions were confirmed – eight from the extended family had perished. Inside Max Hospital, Radhe Shyam Aggarwal remained in intensive care, unaware of the tragedy.
With inputs from Mishal Mussaddique
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