Anaj Mandi fire: Firemen were not aware about presence of people inside factory

When the first firefighters arrived at the site of the deadly blaze in north Delhi, they had no idea so many people were trapped in the four-storey building.

The firefighters made their way through dense smoke and flames on the first floor when they overhead a distress call coming from the second, so they rushed to rescue the person, and realised many more were trapped and screaming for help.

The incident turned out to be the biggest fire tragedy in the national capital since the Uphaar Cinema blaze in 1997, when 59 people died.

Rajesh Shukla, the additional divisional officer of the Delhi Fire Service, said he had received only a single line of information about a blaze in a factory in Anaj Mandi area. Once at the site, he said the firefighters tried to douse the fire on the first floor when "we heard someone making a phone call about the blaze on the second floor, and directed the water hose towards it."