A heartbreaking story has emerged from the devastating fire that tore through a hotel in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar, claiming 21 lives and leaving several families shattered. Among the victims was Gurugram-based chartered accountant Vivek Agrawal, whose final phone call to a relative captured the terror unfolding inside the smoke-filled building.
According to family members, Vivek called his relative Puneet Gupta as the fire rapidly spread through the hotel. In a panicked voice, he reportedly said, "Bhai, shayad hum bach nahi payenge"(Brother, perhaps we will not survive). Puneet immediately advised him to cover his face with a wet cloth and stay low to avoid inhaling smoke. However, the intensity of the blaze and the toxic fumes left little chance of escape.
The Agrawal family had travelled to Delhi to be with Vivek’s father, Radheshyam Agrawal, who has been undergoing treatment for a severe lung infection at Max Hospital. To stay close to the hospital, Vivek had booked rooms at the Malviya Nagar hotel for his family.
The tragedy claimed the lives of nine members of the extended family, including Vivek, his wife Tarjini, mother Premlata, daughters Jeevisa and Variya, and several relatives from Rajasthan. Jeevisa, the youngest victim, had arrived in Delhi only a day earlier to meet her grandfather.
Radheshyam Agrawal remains admitted to the hospital, unaware of the full extent of the tragedy that has devastated his family. Meanwhile, serious questions are being raised about the hotel’s fire safety measures, including reports of narrow access routes and inadequate evacuation arrangements that may have contributed to the high death toll.
