Fire victim who drove his wife to hospital

Rati Chaudhary / TNN / Apr 12, 2006, 01:42 IST

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A government employee has escaped with 20% burns, but his wife is fighting for her life with 75% burns at Delhi's Sunder Lal Jain hospital.

Fire victim who drove his wife to hospital

NEW DELHI: "I don't know who you are and why you are here, but I request you to pray for my wife's life," pleads Kamal Rastogi. The couple had put up a stall at the "Brand India" fair in Meerut where a devastating fire broke out on Monday.
A government employee, Kamal has escaped with 20% burns, but his wife Deepa is fighting for her life with 75% burns at Delhi's Sunder Lal Jain hospital.Their 15-year-old son Akarsh is recuperating in a Ghaziabad hospital.
Kamal said his wife runs a boutique and so their stall was packed with highly inflammable clothes. Recalling the sequence of events, he says, "It was the last day of the fair. My wife's nephew and our younger son were also there. We heard a blast and then within minutes the curtains of our stall caught fire."
"As my wife was inside the stall, she was the first to catch fire. I could find no help, so I rushed to get my scooter from the parking and drove her to the nearest nursing home." He decided to move her to Delhi late in the night as the medical facilities were not adequate.

"At that point, the only thing that came to my mind was that I have to save my wife," he says. The Rastogis have two sons �� Shubham (18) and Akarsh (15).
Shubham was at his aunt's house when the tragedy struck. Kamal thinks no one can really be held responsible for the tragedy. "I cannot level baseless allegations. Jo hona tha wo to ho gya. It could have happened anywhere," he says.
Adds Kamal's nephew Sagar: "The fire broke out at 5 pm, and around 5.30 pm I reached the fair, only to find bodies and ashes. I got a call from my brother that they have found uncle in Loknayak Hospital, we then brought them to Medical and then to Delhi."
As Kamal and his family wait outside the ICU ward, hope is all that they have.

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