A morning blaze tore through a hotel in the southern part of New Delhi on Wednesday, leaving at least 21 people dead and dozens injured, authorities said. Fire officials reported receiving a call just before 9am about flames at the six-story Flourish Stay B&B, located in a tightly packed neighborhood in the capital, not far from the Malviya Nagar district, per the New York Times. Police and local media say that at least 18 of the dead were foreign nationals, most from Central Asia and Africa, per Reuters, which notes that some of the people in the hotel started jumping out of the building's windows as the fire consumed it.
The Independent reports that women and children were among those trying to leap to safety. "People spread mattresses, and a woman from the third floor jumped on it with a little kid," one witness tells Reuters. Police say more than 40 people were rescued and taken to nearby hospitals. A doctor said eight of the injured were placed on ventilators, per the Times. The fire was later brought under control, but the cause remains under investigation by city police and local officials. One local government official tells Reuters that the blaze may have started in an eatery attached to the hotel.
The incident is fueling questions about hotel safety standards and licensing in crowded residential districts, where inexpensive lodgings frequently serve relatives of foreign medical patients being treated at nearby private hospitals, per the Times. News18 reports that the hotel was only licensed as a six-room B&B but reportedly operated about two dozen rooms. Officials say the hotel also only had one common entry and exit site.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced compensation payments to families of the dead and injured—$2,000 each for the former, $500 plus for the latter—as Delhi confronts a series of recent building disasters and fire risks heightened by extreme heat. "Fires are common in India," notes the AP.
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