Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 3: At least 21 people were killed, 18 of them said to be foreign nationals, and several others including about 10 policemen injured while about 40 people were rescued after a massive fire broke out in a
bed-and-breakfast hotel in a five-storey building in Malviya Nagar locality in South Delhi on Wednesday morning.
A case is being registered against hotel co-owner Luvkesh Bajaj. Police said he was absconding, and teams have been deployed to trace him.
Most of the deceased foreign nationals were from Central Asian and African countries including Nigeria, Mozambique, Bangladesh, Somalia, Liberia, and Afghanistan who were in India for medical treatments or were relatives of the patients admitted in nearby hospitals, officials said.
The fire reportedly broke out around 8.50 am in the restaurant of the Flourish Stay B&B in Hauz Rani, a congested locality in Malviya Nagar. The restaurant was reportedly located in the basement of the five-storey building. The fire later spread to another hotel, Micasa Inn, next to it. Delhi Police has registered an FIR under charges of culpable homicide in connection with the case.
Police sources said the hotel had only one entry-exit. The fire NOC is under scanner, they said. Sealed glass windows, sensor-operated gates that stopped functioning during the blaze, overcrowded rooms and violations of fire safety norms turned is suspected to have turned the hotel into a death trap, leaving dozens of occupants with no escape as smoke and flames rapidly engulfed the building.
Fire officials said the five-storey establishment — operating under a bed-and-breakfast licence that permitted only six rooms — was allegedly running about 25 rooms across the basement, ground floor and upper storeys. Furthermore, the building lacked a fire No Objection Certificate (NOC), they said.
Chief Fire Officer Abhilash Kumar Malik said the building comprised a basement, ground floor and five upper floors, with rooms operating on almost every level, including the terrace. He said the structure’s design significantly worsened the situation for those trapped inside, leaving little scope for evacuation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday conveyed his condolences over the deaths caused by the fire in Malviya Nagar and announced financial assistance for the victims’ families as well as those injured. He said the families of those who lost their lives would receive an ex-gratia payment of ₹2 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, while those injured in the incident would be given ₹50,000 each.
Reacting to the incident, Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta expressed sorrow over the deaths and said the government was keeping a close watch on the situation. In a post on X, Gupta said emergency teams from the Delhi Fire Services, Delhi Police, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) and CATS Ambulance Services were deployed as soon as information about the fire was received. She said their prompt action helped rescue and evacuate several people from the affected building.
Officials said the hotel was allegedly operating far beyond its permitted capacity, the establishment was running 24 rooms despite having approval for only six. According to a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) source, the Delhi Tourism department had granted permission for only six rooms at the property under the bed-and-breakfast scheme. However, the establishment was allegedly operating 24 rooms. Online booking platforms also showed 24 rooms available for reservation.
Officials are examining whether any violations of licensing and safety norms may have contributed to the scale of the tragedy. The building comprised a basement, ground floor and five upper floors, according to Delhi Fire Services officials. There were no windows, not even in bathrooms, officials said.
Videos from the scene showed thick plumes of smoke engulfing the structure, charred exteriors and rescue personnel evacuating trapped occupants. Some footage also showed people jumping from upper floors in a desperate attempt to escape the flames.
An eyewitness said he noticed smoke and flames billowing from the building around 9.30 am. “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.
Residents and local shopkeepers joined rescue efforts before emergency services arrived. Witnesses said a mattress seller spread mattresses on the ground to cushion people jumping from the building, while others administered CPR to the injured. Residents said the B&B was used largely by people seeking temporary accommodation while awaiting treatment at the nearby Max Hospital.
“Unfortunately a lot of buildings here are built similarly, with no ventilation. I suspect this is what allowed the fire to spread so much. People were jumping from the upper floors onto mattresses, as the smoke had filled the entire building,” said Giriraj Prajapati (40), a local resident who was at the site when the fire broke out.
Many of those staying at the B&B were reportedly relatives of patients undergoing treatment at nearby hospitals. “My mother was scheduled to undergo knee replacement surgery this morning, so I, she, and my brother were staying here for the past five days. I was in the hospital with her, and thankfully my brother left the building ten minutes before the fire started. However, all our passports and belongings are inside, and we are worried that those might have been burnt,” said Minhazul Hassan (26), a law graduate from Bangladesh who had travelled to Delhi for his mother’s treatment. “The building was not well ventilated, as there were no windows, not even in the bathrooms,” he added.
The building suffered extensive damage, with burnt materials, shattered glass and debris scattered around the site. Rescue teams from the Delhi Fire Services, Delhi Police and disaster response units conducted a thorough search of the smoke-blackened structure before declaring the rescue operation complete.
Local administration official Jitendra Kumar said there was reportedly a restaurant operating on the ground floor of the building and that investigators were examining whether the fire could have been linked to activities there.
Most of the guests in the hotel were reportedly sleeping when the fire broke out. A preliminary investigation by the Fire Department has found the hotel had no valid Fire NOC (No Objection Certificate). Several hotels in the area operate without fire clearances, a senior official said.
The hotel also had only one entry and exit point. This allowed the fire to spread rapidly, the Chief Fire Officer said. The building also had no windows, he added. “It was a five-story building. People were residing in the basement as well. The basement was secured with a shutter. Firefighters had to cut through the shutter to gain entry, where six people were found inside,” Malik said. A total of 17 fire tenders were deployed, he said adding that the fire originated in the basement and subsequently spread to the upper floors.
Luvkesh Bajaj and his partners own three hotels in the same area. As per initial reports, the fire was suspected to have been caused by a cylinder blast. However, as the investigation into the fire continues, officials suspect a short circuit caused the blaze. Officials earlier said the fire started around 8.30 am at the nearby Lemon Green Restaurant, but police later clarified that it had started in the hotel building.
The building has a basement, ground floor and five upper floors. The restaurant was being operated on the ground floor, while the rest of the building was being used as a hotel, fire officer A K Malik said. According to the police, around 10 police personnel were also injured while extinguishing the fire and during the rescue operation.
The AAP and Congress alleged lapses in the fire department’s response time to the Malviya Nagar hotel inferno. Former Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Malviya Nagar and the party’s Delhi president, Somnath Bharti, said the fire brigade reached the site almost an hour late.
“The rescue teams were dispatched, but the fire brigade, which should have arrived within a few minutes of the incident, reached almost an hour later, despite the station just three minutes away from the spot. Residents were extremely proactive. Because of their efforts, many lives were saved. We could have saved many more lives had the fire brigade arrived on time,” Mr Bharti said.
After visiting the fire site, Devender Yadav, president, Delhi Congress, said, “There is an absolute failure of the fire department in this case, and several other incidents have been reported in the past few days, but the government is not focusing on this. Before this, there were incidents in Palam and Vivek Vihar. There was only permission for 6 rooms, but around 20 rooms were here; there were grave lapses.”
The Delhi Power Minister Ashish Sood said the police was probing the matter of the Malviya Nagar fire and the building owner, if found responsible for alleged negligence, would be arrested. The Delhi Power Minister asserted that an investigation has been launched and that authorities would take strict action against those responsible, with “no illegal building to be spared.”
