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According to relatives, the family had travelled to Delhi to visit Vivek’s father, who had been undergoing treatment at Max Hospital in Saket.
Forensics team members take photographs of the site following a fire that broke out at a hotel in New Delhi on June 3. (AFP photo)
“Brother, maybe we won’t survive” were among the last words spoken by Vivek Agrawal before he died in the devastating fire in Delhi’s Hauz Rani area of Malviya Nagar, his relative Puneet Gupta said.
Gupta said he lost eight members of his family in the incident, which claimed at least 21 lives on Wednesday.
Recounting the final moments, he said Vivek, a chartered accountant from Gurugram’s Sector-46, called him while trapped inside the burning building.
“I told him to wet a handkerchief and cover his face with it, but even that was of no help. Now he is gone,” Gupta said, adding that the family rushed to the site immediately, but by the time they reached, all eight had died.
According to relatives, the family had travelled to Delhi to visit Vivek’s father, Radhe Shyam Agrawal, who had been undergoing treatment at Max Hospital in Saket. Vivek had booked two rooms at the Flourish Stay bed and breakfast, where the fire broke out.
Entire Family Wiped Out
Among those killed are Vivek Agrawal (48), his wife Tarjini Agrawal (47), mother Prem Lata Agrawal, daughters Jivisa and Variya Agrawal, maternal uncle and aunt Ashok and Kamla Goel from Rajasthan’s Kishangarh, and another relative Jhumri Lal Goel.
Relatives said the youngest victim, Jivisa, had returned from Bengaluru just a day earlier to visit her grandfather.
They also questioned the building’s safety arrangements, saying that although it stood on a main road, access was through narrow lanes and there were no visible fire safety systems.
“The lanes are extremely narrow, and there was no proper fire escape arrangement. We still don’t know what caused the fire,” Gupta said.
Another relative said identification of bodies had become extremely difficult due to severe burns. “We are unable to recognise them just by looking at pictures. Everyone is severely burnt,” he said.
With eight members of the family dead, the only survivor in the immediate family is Vivek’s ailing father, Radhe Shyam Agrawal.
At Max Hospital in Saket, grief-stricken relatives gathered in large numbers, searching for information and trying to identify victims. Many said they were shown photographs by police but could not recognise their loved ones.
Among them was a man searching for his 25-year-old friend Sujita, who is also feared to be among the victims. He said her phone was unreachable and her whereabouts remain unknown.
(With inputs from PTI)
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