12 February 2019| 06 Jumadul Aakhir 1440| Al Jazeera
A fire at a hotel in New Delhi has killed at least nine people, including a child, according to a senior Indian official.
The blaze erupted in the early hours of Tuesday at Hotel Arpit Palace in a congested part of central New Delhi.
“Nine people are dead, including a woman and a child. Three people are injured,” GC Misra, the director of Delhi Fire Services, told AFP news agency.
Local media reports said the woman and the child died as they tried to escape the fire by jumping from a window.
Misra said the fire had been brought under control and that 35 people were rescued by firefighters in an hours-long operation.
There was no immediate information about the cause of the fire.
Images showed thick smoke and flames billowing out of the top floor of the three-storey hotel, popular with budget travellers.
Accidental fires are common across India because of poor safety standards and lax enforcement of regulations.
In December, six people were killed when a fire engulfed a hospital in Mumbai, the capital of western Maharashtra state.
In 2017, 14 people were killed, also in Mumbai, when a huge blaze tore through a popular restaurant.
