Fire Kills 9 in Residential-cum-Commercial Building Delhi’s Kirari

Nine people including three minors were killed as a three-storeyed residential-cum-commercial building in outer Delhi’s Kirari area caught fire, fire officials said on Monday, December 23.

According to the Delhi Fire Service, eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot after a call of a fire at a house was received at 12:30 AM. The ground floor of the building housed a godown for clothes while the other three floors were residential.

The blaze was brought under control by 3:50 AM, officials said.

Nine people have been killed in the incident, including a six-month-old, reported India Today.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to next of kin of those killed and Rs 1 lakh each to those injured. He also declared that the injured will be treated on government expenses.

Those killed were identified as Ram Chandra Jha (65), the building's owner; Sudariya Devi (58), Sanju Jha (36), Guddan and Uday Chaudhary (33) and his wife Muskan (26), their children Anjali (10), Adarsh (7) and six-month-old Tulsi, the fire services official said.

Also read: Delhi Anaj Mandi Fire: 43 Dead, Chilling Accounts of Dying Workers Emerge

No fire safety equipment was found in the building. Due to a cylinder blast on the second floor, a part of the building collapsed, an official said.

According to the officials, it is suspected that the fire started due to a short-circuit which led to the cylinder blast and the subsequent collapse of a wall of the building. However, the cause behind the fire is being investigated.

The incident comes days after 43 people were killed in a massive fire in a four-storeyed building housing illegal manufacturing units in north Delhi's congested Anaj Mandi area on December 8.