By IANS
New Delhi : It was a nightmare filled with screams and smoke. For nine-year-old Aslam, the night when his home at the Lahori Gate slum was devoured by a raging fire, along with that of several others, the cries for help and the sheer helplessness around would be etched in his memory forever.
“We were all sleeping in our home when I was suddenly awoken by the sound of loud screams. I woke up my parents and we all ran out… before I actually realised what was happening the house was up in flames,” Aslam, with his dishevelled hair and swollen eyes, told IANS.
“No matter where we looked, there was fire. People were screaming for help, some were running with buckets of water. I don’t know where we will go or what will we do now,” he said, looking visibly shaken.
Rajan Prasad, 27, a labourer from Bihar sobbed as his home lay in a heap of ash.
“I am a poor labourer. Somehow I had managed to put my life together here. Now the fire has taken everything away from me… thank god, my wife and my children are safe. But where will I take them now. What will I do?”
Aslam and Rajan are just two of the many victims of the fire in the capital’s Old Delhi area early Sunday.
The tragedy which occurred at around 2.30 a.m. gutted at least 250 shanties of the slum area close to Sadar Bazar railway track in the Lahori Gate area.
“At least seven people have been killed in the fire and since most of the bodies are charred, they are beyond recognition. Eight people are seriously injured with 15 to 70 percent burns and have been admitted to the Lok Nayak Jaiprakash hospital (L.N.J.P hospital),” an official of the fire department told IANS.
According to fire officials, 30 fire engines were rushed to the spot and the blaze could be doused only after two hours.
The people, however, said that help reached them when it was already too late.
“It was nearly an hour after the fire broke out that the fire engines reached us. It was just the locals until then who were trying to help with buckets of water,” said Saiba, a woman in that area.
However, officials said that fire engines were rushed to the spot immediately. The nearest fire station, they said, was hardly at a distance of 50 metres from the spot and therefore there was no cause of delay.
The reason for the fire is not yet known. Rajan Bhagat, spokesperson of Delhi Police, said investigations are on.
“I don’t know what caused the fire… But nowadays we light a fire outside our homes to shield ourselves from the bitter cold. Probably that did it. I don’t know… all that I know is that I don’t have a home now,” Saiba said helplessly.