Three of the victims of the hotel fire in Delhi belonged to a 13-member family that rose early and were getting ready to leave for Haridwar when disaster struck.
The family from Ernakulam in Kerala had taken five rooms on the second floor after attending a wedding in Ghaziabad last week. The family members had visited Agra and Mathura and were planning to leave for Haridwar at 5.30am.
“We were all ready early morning to go to Haridwar when there was a power cut. They switched on the generator and there was heavy smoke and smell,” said Somashekhar, a survivor.
“My sister Jayashree P.C. spotted the smoke, informed us and rushed to check. The entire pathway was full of pungent smoke. My mother and brother (P. Naliniamma, and P.C. Vidhyasagar) were with her at that time. I immediately opened the room for fresh air and we managed to escape with help from police and firemen,” Somashekhar added.
Jayashree, 53, Naliniamma, 84, and Vidhyasagar, 59, were killed in the fire.
From Tamil Nadu, two private firm executives Arvind Sukumaran, 35, and Nandakumar, 34, died.
The other deceased include Mya Mya Htwe, 45, Dawmla May, 67, and tour guide Tum Hla Sein, 32 — part of an eight-member pilgrim group from Myanmar.
Four survivors have moved to the Myanmar embassy. A 28-year-old woman, Chain Maya Nyan, is being treated at Lady Hardinge Medical College for a back injury suffered while jumping out of a window.
Pynna Dipa, a Mog Buddhist monk from Tripura who helped with translation, told The Telegraph that the victims had just visited Bodh Gaya and Varanasi.
The dead include an Indian Revenue Service officer, Suresh Kumar, from Panchkula, Ahmedabad lawyer Rabia Jusufbhai, 50, a Hyderabad-based techie from Patna, Pranav Bhasker, 32, and 52-year-old E.V.S. Challapathi Rao, doctors Shankar Narayan Sheshadri, 52, and Santosh Mahadev, 35, and hotel chef Tara (in late twenties).
Two bodies have not been identified yet. A hotel worker named Lalchand is unaccounted for.
Tara’s relative from Bageshwar in Uttarakhand had not yet told his wife that he is dead. They were waiting at the mortuary at Shrimati Sucheta Kriplani Hospital.
“He wasn’t paid any provident fund. He has two sons and two daughters, the eldest is eight years old, and the youngest is one. We have heard about (chief minister Arvind) Kejriwal’s compensation (Rs 5 lakh for the next of kin of each victim) but no official has called us. His wife is ill. So, we are scared that her condition may worsen if we tell her the truth,” said a person who identified himself as Tara’s cousin.
