Two sisters suffocate to death in house fire

New Delhi, April 2

Two sisters suffocated to death in a residential building fire in north Delhi’s Sadar Bazar area on Tuesday. The girls, identified as Gulashna (14) and Anaya (12), were trapped inside the bathroom.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, North district, Manoj Kumar Meena said, “Cops at the Sadar Bazar police station received a call regarding the fire around 2 pm and rushed to the spot. Upon arrival, it was found that a house at Sadar Bazar’s Chameliyan Road was engulfed in flames. Four fire tenders arrived brought the blaze under control.”

A senior Delhi Fire Services official said, “Thick smoke filled the entire building as it had a central air conditioning system. The building had glass windows and poor ventilation which trapped the smoke. The police had to utilise gas masks to gain access.”

The fire broke out in a music system and the flames soon spread to other electronic gadgets and wooden items in the house, he said.

When the girls saw the flames, they took shelter in a bathroom of their house.

“Firefighters had to wear gas masks to enter the building for the search operation. We had to break open the bathroom door. The girls were found lying unconscious and were rushed to the hospital,” said the official.

The sisters were declared dead at the hospital, according to police.

According to a friend of the victims’ family, the girls had come back from school in the afternoon and were asleep when the fire broke out. Their mother and aunt were also home at the time of the incident but were rescued in time. Their father, a businessman, and their brothers had gone out, he said.