New Delhi
As a massive fire engulfed a bed-and-breakfast facility in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar on Wednesday morning, police personnel, along with local residents, risked their lives to rescue guests trapped inside the building.
The constables reached the spot as soon as they received information, wearing casuals, slippers and without protective gear.
Head constable Dinesh Yadav of Malviya Nagar police station reached the site around 9 a.m. and saw people trapped inside, their hands visible through the windows. He rescued two Nigerian women trapped on the second floor.
“I climbed a ladder and broke open the bathroom window with my bare hands. An elderly woman, who was probably undergoing treatment, was trapped inside along with her attendant. A massive cloud of smoke billowed out as soon as I broke the glass. I went inside and asked the attendant to hold her legs while I held her by the arms. The fumes were extremely toxic and the smoke was so dense that nothing was visible,” Mr. Yadav said.
He spotted a couple trapped inside on the first floor, but there was no opening through which he could enter.
On the third floor, another Nigerian couple was desperately looking for a way out. The constables guided them to climb down a rainwater pipe and jump onto mattresses that had been laid out below. The woman’s husband was also rescued.
“The sad part was that I was not able to save those who were on the first floor,” Mr. Yadav said.
Within seconds, electrical wires began sparking and exploding, causing some guests to retreat instead of jumping from the burning building.
“There were three persons on the opposite side of the building. Only one could be saved. The other two died. They were a couple from Kazakhstan who could not muster the courage to jump,” he said.
On the fourth floor, Mr. Yadav found two persons trapped inside a washroom. They were lying on the floor with wet cloths covering their noses in an attempt to protect themselves from the smoke.
The constable suffered bruises and wounds on his hands and both legs. His skin developed burns and blisters after coming into contact with hot plastic cables.
“Civilians often take longer to make decisions in such situations and they cannot always judge the exact moment when they need to jump. If the electric pole had not caught fire, people would have jumped immediately,” he said.
After reaching five persons, he himself was about to faint, and others stepped in to help.
Head constable Kartar Yadav pulled out a man from the basement on his shoulder. He then climbed onto the adjacent building to find a way to access the burning building. “I broke the water tanks on the terrace so that water seeped into the floors below,” he said.
With only a handkerchief as a protection against the toxic fumes, no eye glasses and no gloves, the constables climbed into the building’s upper floors as the fire was being doused by the fire officials.
Head constable Deshraj said they had to step near the broken windows multiple times to breathe.
The rescue took place in batches, with teams of at least four to five constables taking turns to go inside the building and pull out persons. “We went inside at least five-six times, checking rooms and bathrooms, under the beds, behind the doors. Most of the people were unconscious. We could not even check how many of those we pulled out could actually be saved,” said head constable Rajveer Singh.
Published – June 05, 2026 01:12 am IST
