Four-storey building catches fire in E Delhi's Jheel area, 9 rescued

Nine people, including an elderly couple, who were trapped in a four-storey building in east Delhi's Geeta Colony that caught fire on Sunday morning, were rescued in a one-hour-long operation by seven police officers from Geeta Colony police station.

Senior police officers familiar with the rescue operation said that the building, near Jheel Khuranja Tanga Stand in Geeta Colony, was used for commercial activities, specifically pickle and dairy product businesses, by two businessmen.

At least seven labourers were rescued through the ground floor entrance of the building, while the elderly couple, who had come to visit their son, a worker at the pickle shop, were trapped on the third floor.

They ascended the stairs but gave up hope of being rescued, and were suffocating due to smoke, said police officers involved in the rescue operation. However, the police officers, who arrived at the scene before the fire services, found them, and head constable Gaurav carried the 61-year-old woman, Chandwati, on his shoulder and rescued her through the building's terrace.