Delhi fire deaths: 'He kept pleading, save me, save me'

Families of the victims of the devastating Vivek Vihar fire in Delhi recount desperate pleas for help, highlighting the tragedy and raising questions about rescue response times.

Grief and disbelief gripped family and friends of those killed in the devastating fire in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar on Sunday, with several recalling frantic early morning phone calls from the victims, desperate for help.

According to family friends, Nishank Jain, one of the deceased, had tried to reach out to several people as fire spread rapidly through the residential building.

"He tried calling so many people -- kept saying 'save me, save me'," a close friend said.

Desperate Calls Amidst the Delhi Fire

Manoj, a family friend and architect who was working on the family's new home, said Nishank made calls to him around 3:50 am and again at 4 am, as the situation inside the building worsened.

"I couldn't pick up the calls. I saw missed calls on my phone in the morning. When I got to know what had happened, I rushed to the hospital," he said.

Relatives said Nishank was supposed to travel to Manesar with his elder brother Deepak Jain (38), a company secretary, to celebrate the latter's son's birthday, but did not go at the last moment.

"Nishank did not go, had he gone, he would be alive," a relative lamented.

Friends recalled Nishank as a generous person, who would often donate money for social causes.

Resentment Over Rescue Efforts

Family friend Amit Jain said he came to know about the incident around 8:30 am, hours after the blaze had engulfed the four-storey (G+4) residential building.

There was also resentment among relatives over what they described as gaps in rescue. "Had fire services responded quickly, they would have been alive," an acquaintance said.

They also claimed that at least three people attempted to escape through the roof, but could not as the door was locked.

Anuj Jain (50), related to Shikha Jain, one of the deceased, said her husband Naveen Jain got severely burned and is undergoing treatment.

"He owns a carten box factory," Anuj Jain said, adding, "Both the daughters jumped out of the building and saved themselves, they were brought to the hospital and later discharged."

Naveen Jain who has suffered at least 30 per cent burns, majority of them on his face and head, was shifted to Safdarjung Hospital for advanced care, officials said.

Horrific Scenes Inside Charred Building

The family, however, alleged mismanagement by GTB Hospital when Naveen was being transferred to Safdarjung Hospital.

"We have been stranded here for two hours and there is no ambulance available," they claimed.

Jotjeet Sabarwal from the Shahid Bhagat Singh Seva Dal said their group reached the spot at 6.15 am, and started recovering the bodies.

He described the scenes inside the charred building as "horrific".

"As soon as we entered, we saw one body on the stairs," he said. "Every floor had been completely burned, and when our team reached the second floor, we found more charred bodies of victims."

"We found a one-and-a-half-year-old in the tight embrace of one of the family members," Sabarwal said, adding that the bodies were so badly burnt that it was hard to determine their identity.

The Sewa Dal rescue team claimed the whole building had central locking, and the doors to the roof were shut.

The rescue operation took around two-and-a-half hours, the group said.

Nine people, including a one-and-a-half-year-old child, were killed after a blaze broke out at the residential building in Vivek Vihar area around 3:50 am on Sunday, engulfing multiple floors of the fated building.