For the 21 people who died in the Delhi blaze, the fire at an illegal bed-and-breakfast in south Delhi's Hauz Rani, was a cruel twist of fate. Many of the victims were either tending to patients or patients themselves.
Habib Abid, his son Haidar, and brother-in-law Ali Amer Mosa had been staying on the fifth floor of the hotel for a week as the 19-year-old received his treatment for a brain tumour at Max Hospital, Saket. The Iraqi national narrowly escaped the blaze, but lost his brother-in-law.
According to the hospital's forensic team, they received 13 bodies since the incident. Of these, the autopsies have been completed for six. The rest of the cases will be done by June 5, when five more bodies will also be shifted from Max Hospital.
At least 12 foreign nationals had been killed, including three of a family from Kyrgyzstan. Nargisa Khan, who came to Delhi for a liver transplant, died of burn inhalations, along with her grandmother and son.
A current of anger was palpable among those who had arrived to collect the bodies, blaming the lax implementation of safety norms and building regulations for the deaths.
The nine Indians who died included eight members of the same family, who had come to meet their critically ill relative at Max Hospital. They were identified as Vivek Aggarwal, his wife Tarjani, their daughters Jivisha and Varya, Vivek's mother Premlata, uncle Ashok, aunt Kamla Goyal, and her husband Jhaveri Lal Goyal.
