Massive fire near Rithala Metro kills 1, razes hundreds of shanties

A wall of fire tore through the night sky in northwest Delhi on Friday, 7 November, as a massive blaze consumed nearly 500 shanties near the Rithala Metro Station in Rohini, leaving one man dead and another grievously injured. The inferno, fed by a series of exploding LPG cylinders, turned the densely packed settlement into an ocean of flames within minutes.

Thick plumes of smoke curled over the skyline as terrified residents fled their homes, clutching children and hastily gathered belongings. The crackle of burning tin roofs mingled with the roar of collapsing structures, while orange light from the blaze danced across the darkness like a cruel mockery of dawn.

The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) received a distress call at 10:56 pm, dispatching multiple fire tenders and firefighting robots to the site. Police swiftly cordoned off the area as explosions echoed through the narrow lanes, forcing bystanders to retreat. “The fire spread rapidly due to the close proximity of the huts and multiple LPG blasts,” said a DFS official, adding that more tenders were kept on standby through the night.

By the early hours of Saturday, exhausted firefighters managed to subdue the blaze after several hours of relentless effort. In its aftermath, the settlement stood reduced to a skeletal landscape of twisted metal and ash. Munna, one of the residents, succumbed to the flames, while another man, identified as Rajesh, suffered burn injuries and was rushed to a nearby hospital.

Preliminary estimates suggest that between 400 and 500 huts were gutted in the fire, rendering scores of families homeless. Local authorities have begun assessing the damage and arranging temporary shelters for those displaced.

As the first light of morning crept over the charred remains, the acrid smell of smoke lingered — a haunting reminder of a night when hundreds lost everything, and the city once again witnessed the fragility of life in its most vulnerable corners.

With PTI inputs