When smoke first billowed from the building on Monday, no one could have foreseen that the flames would devour the structure, claiming 15 young lives. Desperate cries for help and locking themselves inside bathrooms for safety were ultimately not enough to save the students trapped within the dense smoke of the Aliganj building in northwest Lucknow.
"Please save me...Papa, there's a fire," this was 23-year-old Sukhmani Singh's last call to his father on Monday. He was among those killed in the fire.
Chaos unfolded in the building when fire broke out, trapping several people inside. Some students jumped from the first floor in a bid to escape.
Videos that surfaced on social media showed people clinging to window ledges, climbing down pipes and screaming for help.
"It was clear from the screams that many were trapped inside," said one witness.
Students trapped on the upper floors had locked themselves inside bathrooms for safety, while others tried to force open the windows to escape. Onlookers watched in horror as a young man jumped from a top-floor window, crashing heavily onto the ground below. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, according to an eyewitness.
The parents who rushed to the spot after receiving frantic phone calls from their children pleaded with the police to let them enter the burning building. Local residents also smashed the glass windows in an attempt to save those who could escape.
The cries of family members echoed through the area as rescue workers battled the fire.
"Everything was burning. We were running and tried to escape through the windows," said a survivor, who suffered burns while trying to escape.
The three-storey commercial complex in Aliganj's Sector D had a pet store, a veterinary clinic across the basement, ground and first floors. The second floor housed a coaching centre and an animation studio.
Apart from those working in the studio, many students were attending animation classes during their summer vacation.
Among those killed was a 25-year-old Aditya Srivastava, an employee at the animation studio. His colleague recalled that he had called him pleading for help.
"Had someone paid a little more attention, my son would be alive today. My world has been destroyed," said Aditya's mother.
According to officials, the building's layout was a major obstacle to the rescue operation. The structure had only a single entry and exit point. As students and employees continued to cry out for help, firefighters struggled to gain access to the smoke-filled building.
The firefighters used hydraulic cutters, hammers and drilling machines for the rescue operation.
Personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), police and fire services continued the painstaking operation, with 19 fire tenders deployed to battle the blaze.
