Those who jumped out, survived

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 22

In the emergency ward, Jasmeen Kaur, 18, who hailed from Moga, lay ailing and slipped in and out of consciousness. On her way to the ECG room, she revealed the horrors of the tragic fire.

“I was sleeping,” she said. For ten brief minutes, the only time when her painkiller-filled drip was switched off, as ECG wires examined her heartbeat, she spoke her mind! “My friend woke me up. She told me there’s a spark; someone’s laptop charger caught fire. It was a just a spark and I saw it taking down the whole room, which was divided by plastic panels. I want the owner of the house to be punished,” she said.

Talking about her escape, she added, “On the first floor, where the fire broke, my room was the last one, on the rear of the house. When the flames grew bigger, I grabbed a chair and jumped off the shed. Then from the shed, I jumped on the floor.”

For Fatehabad-based Femina, 23, who is preparing for UGC NET and studies at a coaching centre in Sector 34, said, “I stay on the second floor. I was going to the market and had to take my phone from the first floor. Within no time, the smoke filled the room and I could not find my way out. I went to the balcony on the rear of the building and started shouting for help. A neighbour tried to pull me towards himself. While reaching out to him, I pressed my foot against a stone which slipped and I came crashing down.” Femina suffered a blackout after she fell and found herself in the hospital.

Fearing post-traumatic stress disorder, Femina’s maternal uncle did not reveal to her about her friends’ demise. “I only hope my friends are OK,” Femina recounted.