Advertisement

Building fire kills at least 27 in New Delhi

STORY: Police in India arrested two people suspected of flouting fire safety regulations on Saturday (May 14) after at least 27 people died in a blaze.

Rescue teams have been working overnight to clear the burnt out four-storey building in the western suburbs of New Delhi.

More than 75 people were in the property - which houses a manufacturing unit for surveillance cameras - when the fire broke out on Friday (May 13) evening.

Some jumped from the windows, eyewitnesses said, on order to save themselves.

Bimla, who did not give her last name, managed to escape.

"We were running here and there for about half-an-hour but we were unable to find any way. The boys broke the glass and people threw rope from below so we slid down with the help of rope from the third floor."

Authorities said the blaze started in an office on the first floor and spread rapidly.

Two company owners were arrested.

Offering condolences, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised 200,000 rupees, or around $2,580, in compensation for the victims' next of kin.