Overview
- A blaze on May 12 in an old multi-storey building in Prayagraj’s Naini market trapped residents on an upper terrace as smoke cut off the stairs.
- Newly circulated CCTV shows Archana Kesarwani handing her one-year-old to neighbours in a bedsheet and guiding children across a ladder to a nearby roof.
- Fire officials say a short circuit in a ground-floor plastic warehouse sparked the fire, which then spread into the homes above.
- Firefighters reported a single entry and exit choked with plastic ware and a narrowed access lane, which slowed their approach before they found her unconscious and rushed her to a hospital.
- Reports differ on whether she saved three or four children, and the attention has prompted local appeals to keep market passages clear to prevent similar tragedies.