A 27-year-old woman, a physiotherapist, died of burn injuries and asphyxiation after a hotel in Noida where she was staying with a friend caught fire on Saturday evening. Officials said the incident took place on the sixth floor of Moon Hotel and Banquet Hall, a newly opened hotel, in Sector-104, Noida.
The deceased has been identified as Palak Kumari, a resident of Sector-46 in Noida. Her friend, an engineer, 26-year-old Navneet Sharma, a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase-1, New Delhi, is undergoing treatment at the hospital. Both were admitted to the hospital by police after they fainted following inhalation of a lot of smoke, officers said.
Fire officials said that the hotel did not have a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the department, adding the couple were the only two guests at the hotel at the time of the accident.
“This is a new hotel. The operator had taken it on lease from the owner on May 10. Maintenance and renovation work was going on in the building. Meanwhile, a fire broke out while an AC was being fixed. We got the information about the incident at 5.35 pm. The fire broke out on the fourth floor and the smoke had reached the sixth floor. A total of 10 fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the fire was completely doused with the help of only one fire tender,” said Pradeep Choubey, Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Gautam Buddha Nagar.
Praveen Kumar Singh, ACP-1, Noida, said that an FIR has been registered against the hotel management.
Police said Kumari and Sharma were planning to get married, adding their parents were engaged in finalising their match.
“On the basis of the complaint from the woman’s family, an FIR under IPC section 304-A (Causing death by negligence) has been registered against the management of the hotel. We are checking the records of the owner of the building as well as the person who took it on lease. Following this, the person found responsible for the mishap will be named in the FIR,” said Singh.
On April 5, 19 people, including 16 children, had a narrow escape after a fire broke out at an orphanage in Sector-26.
Before that, on February 25, at least four people suffered burn injuries after a house in Mamura village in Noida caught fire.