38 Killed, 46 Injured in Fire in Posh Hotel in New Delhi : Survivors Critical of Preparedness; 1 American Dead

NEW DELHI —  Flames and smoke raced through a 10-story luxury hotel before dawn today, and officials said at least 38 people, including one American, were killed and 46 injured. Some plunged to their deaths from the second and third floors when they tried to escape.

Authorities identified the American who died in the blaze at the five-star Siddharth Continental Hotel as Richard Arnell, 25, but no hometown was immediately available.

A spokesman for the relief organization CARE in New York said that another American, Christopher Roesel, 37, who works for the relief organization in Thailand, is recovering from smoke inhalation in a hospital and that five other CARE staffers escaped the fire without injury.

Police and hotel personnel speculated that an electrical short circuit may have set a carpet afire in the hotel’s ground-floor banquet room.

Survivors claimed that no alarm was given and that the staff and fire department were poorly prepared for an evacuation.

‘People Shouting for Help’

“Nobody told us anything,” said Philippe Demerey, a businessman from Liege, Belgium. “I looked out my window and saw the flames. . . . I left the hotel through the fire escape with only my nightclothes. I saw people shouting for help. It was not very efficient the way they tried to help them.”

New Delhi Lt. Gov. H. L. Kapur said 38 bodies had been recovered. Hospital sources said the dead included about 20 foreigners, including three Britons, two Japanese, two Australians, an Iraqi and at least one Soviet citizen.

Police said two diplomats, from West Germany and Argentina, also died. The United News of India news agency said the victims included two infants.

Police Commissioner Ved Marwah said “all aspects” of the fire will be investigated, including the possibility of sabotage.

Officials said that the fire apparently began at 1:45 a.m. in the banquet room and that flames engulfed the first three floors and sent thick smoke through the floors upstairs.

‘Bodies on Every Floor’

Officials said most of the dead suffocated or were killed by smoke inhalation. “We found bodies on every floor,” a police officer said. “Some of them were in their beds, others in the hallway.”

A doctor at Safdarjang Hospital, where the injured and dead were taken, said at least five people died of injuries suffered when they jumped from the hotel’s second and third floors.

Staff members said the hotel was “practically full” with about 175 guests, about 40% of them foreigners.