Fate could not have been more ruthless to P.C. Somasekharan as one tragic morning took away his mother and two siblings, scarring him for the rest of his life.
Gasping for breath
The 57-year-old LIC agent from Cheranalloor was confined to his room by the swirling smoke when his mother Nalini Amma, 84, sister Jayasree, 53, and brother Vidyasagar, 60, were gasping for breath in the smoke-filled corridors of the ill-fated hotel at Karol Bagh in Delhi that caught fire in the early morning hours of Tuesday.
Having come to Delhi last week to attend a relative’s wedding, the 13-member group from an extended family was staying in four rooms in the hotel when a fire broke out around 5 a.m.
“My sister and mother panicked and came out of their room in their desperation to escape only to be smothered by the smoke, and fell unconscious. On hearing their cries, my brother also came out of his room only to meet a similar fate. Though I tried to get to them, the smoke forced me back into my room,” Mr. Somasekharan told The Hindu over phone from Delhi.
He broke open the window of his room and the fresh air that blew in probably saved him.
He bemoans how his mother and siblings would also have been spared had they also chosen to stay back in their rooms. “They died not by burns but were suffocated to death by the smoke,” Mr. Somasekharan rued.
He lamented that hurdles along the path to the hotel further delayed the arrival of fire tenders.
Tragic turn
The group was about to leave for Haridwar in another 30 minutes and had got ready with their bags packed when the tragedy struck.
They had planned to visit Wagah Border and the Golden Temple in Amritsar before returning home on February 15. Now, it has all been turned upside down. Having left for the wedding in a celebratory mood, they will now return mourning with bodies of their dear ones.