Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 3: A husband and wife were killed after the roof of their rented house collapsed in northeast Delhi's New Usmanpur on Sunday night, while their young son escaped unhurt. In a separate incident the same day, three people, including a three-year-old girl, rescued themselves from a fire in a residential building in Rajouri Garden by climbing down with the help of a saree before firefighters arrived.

The two incidents have once again highlighted concerns over the structural safety of ageing residential buildings and fire preparedness in densely populated parts of the national capital.

According to police, the roof collapse occurred around 10 pm in JP Nagar under the New Usmanpur police station limits. A roof slab of a single-storey house suddenly gave way, trapping a couple beneath the debris.

Police, Delhi Fire Services (DFS) personnel and rescue teams rushed to the spot after receiving information about the incident. The victims were pulled out from the rubble and taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared them dead.

Their young son, who was inside the house at the time, escaped without injuries.

The deceased were identified as 32-year-old Tinku and his wife Urmila, 30. The couple lived in a rented house near Hansraj Dairy in Ganwari Extension.

Preliminary investigations indicate that Tinku, a native of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, worked as a confectioner (halwai) in Delhi.

Police said the exact cause of the roof collapse is yet to be ascertained, and an investigation has been launched. Officials noted that the house was a single-storey structure, adding that the consequences could have been far more severe had it been a multi-storey building.

In another incident, three people, including a three-year-old girl, escaped safely after a fire broke out in a four-storey residential building in Rajouri Garden on Sunday evening.

According to Delhi Fire Services, the fire was reported around 4.10 pm from a building under the Hari Nagar police station limits. Five fire tenders were rushed to the spot, and the blaze was brought under control by approximately 4.40 pm.

Before firefighters reached the building, two women aged 62 and 32, along with the three-year-old child, climbed down from the second floor using a saree as a makeshift rope and escaped safely.

DFS officials said the fire originated in a shaft in the basement where a large quantity of garbage had accumulated. The flames and thick smoke spread to parts of the first, second and third floors of the nearly 300-square-yard residential building.

No injuries were reported in the fire incident. Authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze.