3 fell to death from burning apartment in Dwarka: Electronic lock made getaway difficult, say police
A day after three members of a family, including two children, jumped to their deaths while trying to escape a fire on a 10th-floor flat in Dwarka, police said preliminary investigation showed that the main door of the house, which had an electronic lock, got jammed — sealing the escape route.
The man, Yash Yadav (40), who had an interior design business, was declared dead at Indira Gandhi Hospital, said the police. His daughter and nephew, both aged 10, were declared dead on arrival at Akash Hospital.
According to initial reports, the fire, which broke out at 9.58 am on Tuesday, engulfed the 9th and 10th floors of the duplex flat, where Yash and his family lived, at the Shabad Co-operative Group Housing Society.
The police officer said their probe also showed that the fire, which first started in the prayer room on the 9th floor, spread further due to PVC panelling on the walls of the house.
'Doors with electronic locks are usually very thick, sometimes in the range of 40-41 cm. Some of them can be opened using WiFi, but as of now, the one in the house doesn't seem to be WiFi-enabled. Rescuers tried to break it before it burned down, but couldn't. The plastic of the PVC on the walls also aided in the fire spreading,' the police officer said.
The family was unable to escape through the main door because it was automatically sealed shut, said another officer.
Police said Yash's family had come from Uttar Pradesh for a puja.
'The family's relatives had arrived the day before to stay with them since they had organised a Bhagwat Katha… the fire started on the 9th floor, from the puja room,' Additional DCP (Dwarka) Nishant Gupta had said on Tuesday.
'Most of the family members were able to escape using a side door leading to the terrace. However, two children got left behind, and Yash rushed back to rescue them. While he tried to get them out, the fire intensified inside the house and the three of them got trapped in one of the balconies… as the fire continued to spread into the balcony, we suspect they panicked and decided to jump, hoping they'd land with a few broken bones,' said Gupta. Yadav's wife and elder son survived the fire and were taken to Indira Gandhi Hospital for medical attention.
While Yadav's family had told The Indian Express that 12 people were inside the house at the time of the fire, the Delhi Fire Services reported that a total of five people were rescued from the house.
The bodies, after post-mortem, were taken for last rites to the family's hometown, Dhumari, in Uttar Pradesh's Etah.
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