“Papa, help me": Victim's final call echoes as 15 die in Lucknow building blaze

According to reports, four Uttar Pradesh government officials have been suspended, and further actions may be taken against others involved in approving the structure.

The arrested people were identified as Ram Krishna Upadhyay (43), Virendra Prasad Shukla (62), Tushar Krishna Jaiswal (31), and Suresh Kumar Sahu.

An extensive rescue operation was launched to bring the fire under control and evacuate those trapped inside the building, which housed a coaching centre, which is located in the city's  Aliganj area.

Firefighters, police personnel, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Civil Defence teams worked for several hours before bringing the fire under control.

Most of the victims are believed to have been young people aged between 20 and 24 who were inside the building when the fire broke out.

"Please save me"

A father of one of the victim's of the fire tragedy said his child had called him for 'help', but the family could not reach him in time.

23-year-old Sukhmani Singh's father Prabhjot Singh told NDTV: "My child said, 'Papa, there's a fire, please save me'."

Another victim, who was identified as Aditya Srivastava was trapped inside the building for nearly two-and-a-half hours and his mother feels he could have been saved if quicker action was taken.

"The children could have been saved if a little more effort had been put in. If help had been provided earlier instead of making videos, some lives could have been saved. Perhaps my son would have been saved," Aditya Srivastava's mother told the Indian news channel.

A friend of Abdul Rahman, another victim in the tragedy, told NDTV he was the only earning member of the family.

"He got a job about 8-10 months ago and was very happy. I met him a week ago and spoke to him two days back," the friend told the news channel.

Meanwhile, a two-member Special Investigation Team has been formed to investigate the matter.

Survivors told Bhaskar English that the office’s automatic locking system delayed evacuation, while some students escaped by jumping from the building or climbing down using wires.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inspected the site where the fire incident ocurred and later wrote on X: "I inspected the site of the fire accident in Lucknow and, upon reaching King George's Medical University, met with the injured individuals from this unfortunate incident and their families to inquire about their well-being, and obtained information from the doctors regarding the treatment of the injured."

PM Modi announces financial assistance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of lives and announced ex-gratia compensation for the families of the deceased and those injured.

"Anguished by the loss of lives in a fire mishap in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. My condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover at the earliest. Rescue operations are underway and authorities are providing all possible assistance," the Prime Minister said in a post on X.

The Prime Minister's Office announced that the next of kin of each deceased victim would receive Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF), while injured victims would receive Rs 50,000.