Lucknow building fire: A mother’s plea, a colleague’s emergency call to capture the horror
Fire tenders at the site where a fire broke out at a coaching center in Aliganj area of Lucknow on June 22, 2026. Photo credit: ANI
As a mother pleaded with the police to reach her trapped son and people frantically called for help from inside the smoky building, residents and rescue teams raced against time to save those who were engulfed in a devastating fire at a three-storey commercial building in Aliganj area here on Monday (June 22, 2026).
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A fire broke out in a building housing an animation center on Usha Mehta Marg, leaving 15 dead and seven injured. The cause of the fire is still unknown, authorities have ordered a high-level investigation into the accident.
As the building quickly became engulfed in flames, local residents became first responders before emergency services arrived.
Eyewitnesses said many tried to break the glass panes of the building to allow the thick smoke to escape and create possible routes for those trapped inside.
Many of those imprisoned were students who had come to study animation during the summer holidays. Eyewitnesses said several people tried to help after seeing students trapped inside the building.
There were scenes of anguish outside the building as parents and relatives rushed to the scene after receiving distress calls from the inmates.
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Some women were seen pleading with police personnel to let them enter the building.
“Mujhe jaane do apne bete ke paas” (Let me go to my son), one distraught woman repeatedly cried and pleaded with officials as rescue operations continued.
Among those who joined the rescue was Lance Naik Chhabi Ram, posted in Agra and currently attached to headquarters in Lucknow, who happened to be passing by when he noticed the fire.
One of the most harrowing moments was captured on visuals showing a student jumping from an upper floor to escape the flames. People quickly spread a mattress-like object to cushion the fall, after which locals immediately moved the student out of the area and arranged for medical attention.
Speaking to PTI, Mr. Ram said that his professional experience led the officials to engage him in rescue work. He said he assisted in the rescue operation and saw more than a dozen bodies being carried out of the building, while several people were also rescued alive.
As firefighters battled the inferno, residents of neighboring buildings also stepped in to help. People living behind the affected structure supplied bottles of water to firefighters involved in the rescue operation.
Firefighters reached an adjacent building and created two openings to enter the affected structure from the upper floors and continued an intensive search and rescue operation from the inside.
Dhiraj Mehra reached the spot after receiving a frantic call from his colleague Aditya Srivastava, a 3D artist working in the gaming zone on the third floor.
“He called me and said ‘bacha lo’ (save me) and I rushed to the spot,” Mr Mehra recalled.
Eyewitness Anurag Pandit, a civil services aspirant, said he could only pray for the safety of those trapped inside. “I pray they are alive,” he said.
A total of 19 firefighting units, several firefighting teams, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and other rescuers were deployed to fight the flames and search for survivors.
Published – 22 Jun 2026 20:23 IST