‘I might not survive today. Can I see you one last time?

Survivors recount Friday night horror; families search for missing persons

As rescue operations continued at the Mundka building on Saturday, many survivors of Friday’s fire tragedy battled for their lives at the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangolpuri.

While some thanked their stars for exiting the building safely, several others seemed to be in a state of shock and despair, having witnessed traumatic scenes inside the burning building.

“I might not survive today. Can I see you one last time?” cried a desperate Pushpa Pawar, 37, while talking to her husband over the phone as she gasped for breath trapped on the second floor.

Ms. Pawar, who climbed on a crane and landed safely, told  The Hindu her only wish in those moments was to meet her family members at least once.

Talking about her escape, she said she and many other women kept searching for an exit out of the building but found none. “When we tried climbing up the stairs, the doors were locked [on the fourth floor]. Some of the women jumped out of the windows [on the third floor], some climbed down the ropes while a few others reached for the cranes,” she said, adding the cranes could only help bring down people of a certain weight due to technical costraints.

A majority of those killed in the fire – 21 of 27 – were women workers.

The fire started around 3.30 p.m. on Friday from the first floor of the building, said an eyewitness. The fire personnel were able to control the situation within six hours, said Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg.