Firefighters wearing gas masks ran up staircases and in and out of rooms shrouded in thick black smoke as they raced against time on Tuesday to find Gulashna (14) and Anaya (12) who were trapped inside their burning house in the crowded Sadar Bazar area here. While the firefighters toiled to find the sisters, they suffocated to death in a bathroom on the second floor of their multi-storey house on Chameliyan Road where they locked themselves after the fire broke out.

A senior Delhi Fire Services official, who was part of the rescue operation, said, “Thick smoke filled the entire building as it had a central air conditioning system. The building had glass windows and poor ventilation which trapped the smoke.”

The fire broke out in a music system and the flames soon spread to other electronic gadgets and wooden items in the house, he said.

When Gulashna and Anaya saw the flames, they took shelter in a bathroom on the second floor of their house.

“The two girls locked themselves inside the bathroom. There were three to four rooms on the second floor of the house and the firefighters had to wear gas masks to enter the building for the search operation. We had to break open the bathroom door. The girls were found lying unconscious and were rushed to the hospital,” said the official.

The sisters were declared dead at the hospital, according to police.

According to a friend of the victims’ family who did not wish to be named, Gulashna and Anaya had come back from school in the afternoon and were asleep when the fire broke out.

Their mother and aunt were also home at the time of the incident but were rescued in time. Their father, a businessman, and their brothers had gone out, the family friend said.

Police said the house comprised a stilt parking, upper ground floor, first and second floors.Delhi minister Atishi condoled the loss of lives.

In a post on X in Hindi, she said, “The fire incident in Sadar Bazar is extremely tragic. The death of two girls in this incident is very unfortunate. May God give courage to their family.”

She said the district administration has been asked to submit a report on the incident.

According to fire department data, 43 people died in fire-related incidents in Delhi from January 1 to March 26.