Locals saved lives with mattresses, bedsheets

As smoke billowed out of Flourish Stay on Wednesday morning and cries for help from upper-floor windows filled the narrow lane in Hauz Rani, the first people to respond were not firefighters or disaster personnel.

- Aaditya Khatwani, Paras Singh and Hemani Bhandari

They were neighbours, shopkeepers, locals and guests from nearby lodges who rushed fearlessly towards the burning building and improvised a rescue operation that saved dozens of lives.

Among them was 61-year-old Riyazuddin, who runs a mattress shop opposite the B&B. As flames spread through the building, he hurriedly began dragging mattresses under the windows on the lane beside it.

“We quickly understood that the fire had started on the ground floor and people on the upper floors were trapped because the staircase was filled with smoke,” Riyazuddin recalled. “We saw guests opening windows. Some had to break the glass to create an escape route. We told them to jump and assured them we had laid mattresses below.”

Within minutes, he said, he pulled out every mattress in his shop and spread them across the narrow lane.

Videos from the scene showed horrific visuals of people jumping in a desperate attempt to save their lives.