Police rescue wheelchair-bound elderly woman from building fire in north Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) An elderly, wheelchair-bound woman trapped on the terrace of a four-storey building was rescued after a fire broke out, police said on Tuesday.
     A purported video of the incident surfaced online where the building could be seen engulfed in fire and the fire tenders were trying to bring the flames under control.
     According to police, the incident occurred on Monday afternoon after a fire broke out on the ground floor and soon engulfed the whole building in north Delhi's Shakti Nagar area.
     Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Raja Banthia said the reason behind the fire is suspected to be a short circuit. The chemicals and furniture kept in the building led the fire to spread all around its premises swiftly.
     "Residents present in the building managed to come out of their houses on time but an elderly woman (76) who could not walk was trapped on the terrace of the building," Banthia said.
     Upon receiving information, the police immediately rushed to the spot where the residents told them about the elderly woman. Inspector Ramesh Kaushik, along with head constable Rajneesh and constable Jitender managed to climb the terrace and rescue the woman.
     "The passage for the stairs was under a thick smoke and people were scared to go inside. We muster our courage and managed to reach the woman, who was in a wheelchair," Kaushik said.
     "We lifted her and brought her down before the fire spread further," Kaushik added.
     In a video message released on Tuesday, the woman said she was thankful to the Delhi Police personnel who rescued her.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)