A survivor of the devastating fire in Lucknow's Aliganj area that claimed 15 lives on Monday said he faced an impossible decision: remain inside and suffocate or jump from the building. Mohd Aasif, 32, who worked at an animation centre on the second floor of the three-storey commercial building on Usha Mehta Marg, recounted the terrifying moments to PTI.
Trapped by Smoke and Flames
Aasif said he and his colleagues had just begun eating lunch around 2 pm when word spread that something was wrong and everyone needed to leave immediately. He said they were not told there was a fire, thinking it might be a minor short circuit as something similar had occurred earlier. When they tried to exit through the biometric lock, the power failure caused the system to malfunction, costing them precious seconds.
By the time the door finally opened, thick smoke had begun filling the floor. The staircase—their only escape route—had already become a tunnel of smoke and flames. "When we moved towards the staircase, we saw thick smoke coming from there. We then moved towards the front side, but smoke was coming from there too," Aasif said. Within minutes, visibility dropped so drastically that colleagues standing just a few feet apart could no longer see one another.
Desperate Jump to Survive
Desperate for air, Aasif grabbed a desk and smashed a glass window. Wrapping a wet towel around his face, he tried to breathe through the smoke. "I picked up a desk and tried to break the glass window. I covered my face with a wet towel to breathe. When I broke the glass, I saw flames outside and people below were asking us to jump," he told PTI. Realising there was no way out, he decided to jump from the front side of the building. "I felt jumping was the only option because staying inside meant certain death," Aasif recalled.
He saw an electric wire in front of the building, unsure if it was live, and noted the wire was melting due to the heat. He suffered injuries while falling. After him, four or five others also jumped. By then, fire and smoke had spread to the second floor, trapping those inside.
Blocked Rooftop Exit and Lack of Safety Measures
Aasif alleged that the staircase acted like a chimney, allowing smoke and flames to rise rapidly. He said the route to the roof was blocked with a channel and a locked door. "If that exit had been open, many lives could have been saved," he claimed. He also alleged that the building lacked adequate safety arrangements: there was no working fire alarm, and although some safety equipment was present, they could not initially locate the source of the fire because only smoke was visible. He suspected the fire may have started from a pet shop and clinic on the ground floor, where several air-conditioners and inflammable material could have contributed to the blaze. There was no independent confirmation of his claims.
Aasif said his colleague Jayant Gupta also jumped from the building and suffered severe injuries, falling on an iron railing and remaining on the road until some people took him to hospital in an auto. Aasif, who lives in Lucknow's Ashiyana area, said he is recuperating at home after suffering severe injuries. The fire killed 15 people and injured several others, prompting a high-level probe by authorities.
