As thick smoke engulfed a commercial building in Lucknow and flames blocked all escape routes, 32-year-old Mohd Aasif made a split-second decision that may have saved his life. He decided to jump from the second floor of the burning building instead of waiting for help.
Aasif was among those trapped inside the three-storey building on Usha Mehta Marg in Lucknow's Aliganj area when a devastating fire broke out on Monday, killing 15 people and injuring several others.
Recalling the harrowing incident, Aasif told news agency PTI that he and his colleagues at an animation centre on the second floor had just begun lunch around 2 pm when word spread that everyone needed to evacuate immediately.
"We were not told that there was a fire. We thought it could be a minor short circuit as something similar had happened earlier," he said.
As employees rushed towards the exit, a power failure caused the biometric lock on the door to malfunction, delaying their escape. By the time the door was opened, thick smoke had already filled the floor.
The staircase, which was their only escape route, had turned into 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 sharply and people standing only a few feet apart could no longer see one another.
Aasif used a desk to smash a glass window and wrapped a wet towel around his face to help him breathe. "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 said.
Realising there was no safe route out of the building, Aasif decided to jump from the second floor. "I felt jumping was the only option because staying inside meant certain death," he recalled.
He said an electric wire hanging in front of the building added to the danger.
"I saw an electric wire in front of the building. I did not know whether it had power or not," he said, adding that the wire was melting because of the heat and that he suffered injuries during the fall.
Aasif's jump was followed by several others.
"After me, four or five others also jumped. By then, the fire and smoke had spread to the second floor and those inside could not escape," he told PTI.
Aasif claimed that the staircase connecting the floors acted like a chimney, allowing smoke and flames to spread rapidly through the building.
"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 said.
He also alleged that the building lacked adequate fire safety measures.
"There was no working fire alarm. Some safety equipment was present, but initially we could not locate the source of the fire because only smoke was visible," he said.
Aasif further claimed that more than 20 people were present at the animation centre at the time of the incident.
He suspected the fire may have originated in the pet shop and clinic on the ground floor, though there was no independent confirmation of the claim.
Aasif said one of his colleagues, Jayant Gupta, also jumped from the building but suffered serious injuries.
"He fell on an iron railing and was badly hurt. He remained on the road in pain until some people took him to hospital in an auto," he said.
Now recovering at his home in Lucknow's Ashiyana area, Aasif described himself as fortunate to have survived.
"I am okay now. I suffered severe injuries, but I am recuperating now," he said.
