A 26-year-old UPSC aspirant died trapped in a lift at Vishal Mega Mart in Delhi’s Karol Bagh during a massive fire on Friday evening. The victim, Dhirendra Pratap Singh, sent several desperate messages to his family moments before he died of suffocation. According to the reports, Singh was a native of Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh and had moved to Delhi to prepare for the Civil Services Examination. He recently cleared the preliminary round and was studying for the Mains. He held a degree in Political Science and was pursuing his Master's.
According to his brother Vikram Singh, Dhirendra went to the store for shopping and got trapped in the elevator when the fire broke out. At 6:51 p.m., Dhirendra messaged him on WhatsApp saying, “Bhaiya, I’m stuck in the lift. I can’t breathe. Please save me.” According to the reports, he also made several phone calls to his brother.
Rescue teams recovered his body around 2:30 a.m., nearly eight hours after the fire began. Family members alleged that store staff turned off the power and fled the scene without checking the lift or making any attempt to help those inside. They also accused police of not responding quickly to calls for help.
“My brother wanted to serve the nation. He was disciplined and hard-working. But because of someone else’s carelessness, he died a painful death,” said Vikram.
(With inputs from angecnies)