India, April 2 -- A routine morning at the Krishna Apra Plaza in Noida' s Sector 18 turned into a nightmare on Tuesday after an air-conditioner suddenly exploded at a real estate office on the first floor, igniting a massive blaze and trapping hundreds in the eight-storey commercial complex. As thick black smoke choked the building, sheer desperation drove four people-three men and a woman-to leap from the third and fourth floors in a bid to save their lives.

Minutes to Disaster

The blaze erupted at 11.27am when an AC unit in a first-floor real estate office suddenly exploded. Within moments, dense smoke billowed through the corridors, spreading rapidly across all eight floors of the commercial complex, which houses over 50 businesses, ...