Delhi Hotel Fire: At least 21 people, most of them foreign nationals, were killed after amassive fire engulfedthe hotel in South Delhi's Hauz Rani area on Wednesday morning. The blaze reportedly started at the restaurant in the basement on the ground floor and quickly spread through the five-storey building.

Shocking visuals from the scene showed desperate guests attempting to escape the flames. In one video, a man was seen jumping from the upper floors onto mattresses laid out by local residents on the road below. Locals rushed to assist those who leapt from the building as thick smoke and flames engulfed the structure.

According to eyewitnesses, a woman with her child in her arms also jumped from the third floor of the building. "A woman holding a young child jumped from the third floor after local residents spread mattresses on the ground below in an attempt to save those trapped inside," an eyewitness told PTI.

Witnesses said the woman landed on one of the mattresses along with the child and may have sustained some injuries. She was immediately sent to a nearby hospital.

"She was carrying the child tightly and jumped when there was no other way out. People had already arranged mattresses below the building. Both survived, but she appeared to have suffered injuries," he added.

Jitendra Kumar, SDM, DDMA, South District, said, "The restaurant was operating on the ground floor of the building. The cause of the fire is still not known. Some people from the upper floors jumped out of the building on the mattresses laid on the road by the locals."

Located in the narrow lanes of Hauz Rani, the hotel had around 25 rooms and was reportedly housing nearly 40 guests, many of them foreign nationals who had come to India for medical treatment. Most occupants were believed to be asleep when the fire broke out.

Firefighters battled for hours to control the blaze, while rescue teams evacuated trapped guests. Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire. Some foreign nationals are also among those who lost their lives in the tragedy.

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Sudhanshu Mishra is a Senior Copy Editor at Times Now. While his day-to-day work centres on news, his writing interests lie in the intersections of cu...View More

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