The 52-year-old who saved six members of a family from a burning building at Onkar Nagar on Tuesday morning before perishing in a cylinder blast allegedly died due to an injury to the throat.
The victim’s family claimed on Wednesday he would be alive today had the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) reached the spot in time.
Satyavir Panchal’s family also demanded a posthumous bravery award for his attempt to save the lives of Rajesh Gupta, his wife Bala Devi and their children Ankush, Khushboo, Himani and Vansh.
Fire had broken out at a diagnostic centre owned by the rescued family in a five-storey building around 2.30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Fire Control Room
“My cousin died trying to save lives. He should be treated as a martyr,” said Ramphal Panchal.
Dr. Gupta told The Hindu that he called up the Fire Control Room at 2.03 a.m. as soon as he realised that a fire had started on the ground floor. He added that his family and he were stuck on the upper floors, while two of his relatives who were on the fourth floor managed to save themselves by scaling the wall of an adjacent building.
Fire extinguishers
Alleging that fire tenders reached the spot nearly about one-and-a-half hours late, Mr. Satyavir Panchal’s 22-year-old son Akshay said that was the reason why his father and he had gone to Dr. Gupta’s house on the next street.
“We received a call at 2.23 a.m. We took 10 fire extinguishers but couldn’t douse the fire. Within 10 minutes of reaching Dr. Gupta’s house, the oxygen cylinder at the diagnostic centre burst,” Mr. Akshay Panchal said.
His relative Divesh Panchal claimed that he went to look for the fire tenders after waiting for half-an-hour.
‘Vehicle not functional’
“I went to look for the fire tenders after waiting for about half-an-hour. I reached the Keshavpuram fire station. The officer there told me that their vehicle wasn’t functional and the call had been forwarded to Moti Nagar fire station,” Mr. Divesh Panchal said, adding that he took the number of the driver and called him up.
“The driver told me that he couldn’t locate the place. I found the driver and we reached the spot around 3.15 a.m.,” Mr. Divesh Panchal said.
Delay denied
However, a DFS officer told The Hindu that they had received the call at 2.36 a.m. and two fire tenders were rushed to the spot within 15minutes.
“The fire tenders reached the site at 3 a.m. Since the Keshavpuram fire tender was deployed at Wazirabad, the call was forwarded to the Moti Nagar station,” he said.
The officer added that they received a demand for a senior officer at 3.50 a.m., after which a senior from a training centre nearby was sent to the spot. He said the fire was doused within half-an-hour and Dr. Gupta’s family rescued.
‘Rescued around 4.30’
However, Dr. Gupta said they were rescued and brought downstairs around 4.30 a.m.
Mr. Satyavir Panchal had allegedly helped douse many fires in the area whenever the need arose.
“People always called us in case of a fire and we always helped them,” said Mr. Akshay Panchal.
The victim was also general-secretary of an organisation that held blood donation and eye-check up camps regularly.
