A fire broke out at a hotel in Ajmer, Thursday morning, leaving four dead and several injured. The fire started at around 8 am and within minutes engulfed Hotel Naaz, forcing people to jump from the hotel to save their lives. Four people, including two men, a woman and a four-year-old child, died due to suffocation and burn injuries, said Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Principal Dr Anil Samaria.
Fire engulfs Hotel Naaz in Ajmer.
To save her child, a woman threw him from the third floor of a hotel window. The child has suffered minor burns.
"A woman threw her child in my lap from a window. She also tried to jump off the building, but we stopped her," Mangila Kalosia, who was staying at the hotel, told news agency PTI.
Visuals from the ground show thick black smoke billowing out of the hotel. In one of the videos, two men can be seen escaping the fire through a window. First, a man leaps onto the building across the road and lands safely. Then another man comes out of the window and holds onto the rope hanging on the side. People can be heard saying, "khood ja, khood ja (jump, jump)." He tries to hold on to the rope and slide down, but falls flat on the ground.
Eight people have suffered injuries and are being treated at the JLN Hospital.
A child being rescued from the fire at Ajmer Hotel.
A short circuit reportedly caused the fire. Eyewitnesses claim to have heard a loud explosion, probably due to the AC bursting, before the fire broke out. An inquiry into the matter has been ordered.
18 people were staying at the hotel at the time of the incident. These were visitors from Delhi, who had come to Ajmer on a pilgrimage.
Since the hotel is in a narrow alley, it was challenging for the fire brigade and team to reach the location and initiate rescue operations. Many police officials and firefighters reportedly fainted while trying to save the people trapped in the hotel.
Efforts on to douse the fire.
The rescue operation is now over. ADM City Gajendra Singh Rathore confirmed that the fire has been extinguished. "The search operation is complete, there is no one else inside. The hotel manager said that the fire started from the electric panel, which grew bigger in no time," he said.
Questions are being raised about the hotel's location, a narrow place.
