In a last-ditch attempt to save himself, the UPSC aspirant, who lost his life due to suffocation inside a lift in a Delhi shopping mall on Friday, called his elder brother and said, "Bhaiya ab saans phool raha. Kuch karo...(Brother, I am short of breath now. Do something)" as he gasped for breath.
Kumar Dhirender Pratap, a 25-year-old UPSC aspirant from Uttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra who had been living in Delhi for five years, died in the fire that broke out at Vishal Mega Mart in Karol Bagh. The fire department said that he died after getting trapped in the lift.
Dhirendra stayed in rented accommodation in Karol Bagh. His elder brother, Virendra Vikram, said that his younger sibling had returned to Delhi just a day before the tragedy struck, after he spent a break at home following his prelims.
"I received a message from my brother at 6.51 pm saying he was stuck in the lift and could not breathe. He was asking me to do something to help him. I immediately called the police, but nothing happened for hours," news agency PTI quoted Vikram as saying.
Vikram also said that Dhirendra told him, "Bhaiya, main lift mein hoon (Brother, I am stuck inside a lift)", adding that his last message was seeking help.
"He had never visited Vishal Mega Mart. Had he not messaged me, we would not have known where he was," Vikram said, adding that when the shopping complex had no fire alarms or emergency exits. They even disconnected power after the fire started, trapping Dhirendra inside the lift, he said.
"When I saw my brother's body, there was blood coming from his nose. It was clear he had suffered. That moment broke something in me," an inconsolable Vikram said.
The local fire department recovered Dhirendra's body with the help of the police and the disaster response team.
"When I saw my brother's body, there was blood coming from his nose. Imagine how painful dying due to suffocation must be. My brother, who was my everything died with smoke burning his insides," Virendra said.
At 6:44 pm on Friday, a massive fire started on the first floor of the complex due to a short circuit. Initial attempts were made to douse the fire using in-house fire extinguishers, but the flames quickly spread throughout the store.
Thirteen fire tenders were rushed to the location as the fire was finally brought under control at around 9 pm.
