MS Dhoni, former Indian cricket team captain, survived a fire scare on Friday. Fire broke out in Dwarka’s Welcome Hotel were he was staying with his Jharkhand state cricket teammates. All players and support staff were evacuated in time and are safe.
Dhoni’s state team is currently in the Capital for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where his side reached the semi-finals. They were supposed to face Bengal on Friday, but the match has been postponed to Saturday.
The blaze started at a Reliance store on the first floor of the hotel, said Surender Kumar, DCP (South-West). Dhoni was on the ninth floor while other cricketers were staying across three floors from seventh to ninth.
We were to assemble in the lobby at 7:30am as we usually do before a game, but at 7, I was asked to stay back in the room by Pratyush Singh as there was lot of fire and smoke at the ground floor lobby,” Ishank Jaggi, Jharkhand batsman, told.
“It spread quite quickly and when we finally got out of our seventh floor rooms, all we could see around us was smoke. It was so thick that we couldn’t even see the far end of the lobby.”
The situation could have been worse as the fire alarm did not go off in time at the hotel.
“What added to our concern was the fire alarm didn’t go off, so we assumed it to be a small fire accident. But when there was a strong burning smell, we were asked to vacate immediately. The seriousness of it struck us only when we got out. The smoke spread to our rooms as well. That is when we were asked to run down the stairs,” Jaggi added.
The BCCI confirms that all the players and match officials are unhurt and safe. The semi-final, which was to be held on Friday, March 17, 2017 at the Airforce Complex ground, Palam in New Delhi will now be held at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on Saturday, March 18.
The final will now be played on Monday, March 20 instead of Sunday, March 19 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi.”
Mahavaadi Sudeer– DD Commentator
