India, June 5 -- For the 21 people who died, the fire at an illegal bed-and-breakfast in south Delhi's Hauz Rani, was a cruel twist of fate. With the hotel in close proximity to a well-known private hospital, many of the victims were either tending to patients or patients themselves.

Habib Abid (50), his son Haidar, and brother-in law Ali Amer Mosa (29) had been staying on the fifth floor of the hotel for a week as the 19-year-old received his treatment for a brain tumour at Max Hospital, Saket, just across the road.

The Iraqi national narrowly escaped the blaze, but lost his brother-in-law. "As the fire started spreading rapidly through the upper floors, it filled the corridors with dense smoke, reducing visibility. I escaped as some o...