India, June 13 -- A fire that broke out in a five-storey residential building in Tughlakabad Extension in the early hours of Friday caught most residents by surprise, but quick thinking by some onlookers and families living in the locality helped save many lives during the incident, according to eyewitnesses and officers who subsequently arrived at the scene.

As smoke billowed out of the building, people started setting up mattresses to break the fall of those jumping from the upper floors, putting out vehicles that caught fire to prevent blasts and taking measures for officials to access smoke-filled corridors.

Among them was Saurav Sharma, 35, and his 16-year-old daughter Anshu, whose quick thinking helped save a man's life. Sharma, w...