Video: Two women jump from burning Delhi hotel, one was carrying a child

A video shows two women jumping from the burning hotel onto mattresses laid out by locals, who rushed to help. One woman briefly got to her feet before collapsing again. According to an eyewitness, one of the women was carrying a child when she landed.

In Short

• Fire tenders reached the spot after the blaze erupted around 8.50 am
• Three people were rescued from the restaurant basement by fire officials
• The injured and rescued were taken to hospital in CATS ambulances

A video has emerged showing two women engulfed in flames jumping from the upper level of a hotel in south Delhi's Malviya Nagar within a span of 30 seconds. At least 21 people were killed and 40 injured after a fire broke out at the Flourish Stay B&B at 8:48 am.

In the video, the two women jump one after the other, landing on mattresses laid out by locals, who quickly rush to their aid with blankets. While the condition of both women remains unknown, one of them appears to miraculously get to her feet with the support of two men before collapsing again. She was then carried away from the scene.

An eyewitness told news agency PTI, that one of the women was carrying a child when she landed on the mattress.

Several of those who died were foreigners, mainly from Central Asian and African countries, and officials said the toll could rise as a number of the injured were in a critical condition.

The fire broke out at Flourish Stay B&B in Hauz Rani, a congested locality in Malviya Nagar. More than 40 people were rescued and taken to hospital, where 21 were declared brought dead. Officials said those rescued also included relatives of patients undergoing treatment at a nearby private hospital.

Earlier in the day, officials had said the fire began around 8.30 am at the nearby Lemon Green Restaurant. Police later clarified that the fire had started in the hotel building. Fire officer A K Malik said the structure has a basement, a ground floor and five upper floors.

Teams from the Delhi Fire Services, police and disaster response units searched the smoke-blackened building for survivors. Victims were pulled out of the structure and taken to hospitals in ambulances. Video footage from the spot showed rescue personnel evacuating people from the basement.

The fire caused extensive damage to the building, with debris, shattered glass and burnt material lying in the area around it. A large crowd gathered near the site as authorities sealed off the area and diverted traffic to help the rescue operation.

An eyewitness told reporters that he saw flames and thick smoke coming from the building at around 9.30 am while passing through the area. "I saw four to six people breaking the glass and jumping from the building to escape the fire. One person's leg appeared to have been broken after the fall," he said.

The eyewitness said rescue teams later cleared the area and traffic was diverted around the site. According to eyewitnesses, local residents played an important role in rescue efforts before emergency services reached the spot. A mattress seller spread mattresses on the ground to soften the fall of people jumping from the building, while others gave CPR to those who were injured.

Residents said the building, which was being run as a hotel, had earlier housed a Khadi Bhandar and was often used by relatives of patients being treated at the nearby private hospital. Some locals also alleged that there was only one exit from the building and claimed that firefighters reached the site nearly an hour after the blaze started. These claims could not be independently verified.

The rescue operation has ended and the building has been cordoned off for a police investigation. The cause of the fire has not yet been ascertained, and authorities have started an inquiry into the incident.

- Ends