Ujjain Bagadia Tower Fire, Madhya Pradesh: Smoke From a Ground-Floor Medical Store Traps Residents and Visitors on the Upper Floors of a Five-Storey Building, All Rescued With No Death Reported; Counts Differ and the Cause Is Not Confirmed

What happened

The Ujjain Bagadia Tower fire began on the evening of Wednesday 11 November 2026 in a medical store on the ground floor of a five-storey residential and commercial building near Old Kotwali police station in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The shop’s shutter was closed, and the police superintendent said the smoke then spread to the upper floors through a ventilation chamber (Navbharat Live). Women, children and elderly people on the upper floors, including some who had gathered for a religious programme on the third floor, were cut off by smoke. All were brought out. No outlet we opened reports a death.

Early reports said 10 to 15 people were trapped. Dainik Jagran later put the number trapped on the third to fifth floors at more than 25. The number rescued is where reports differ most: Free Press Journal and Dainik Bhaskar say 50 were evacuated, while ANI’s headline says more than 300 residents were rescued. The police superintendent told ANI that the upper floor has four residential flats, which is hard to square with 300 residents, so we treat the 300 figure as unconfirmed and give the others as reported.

The building stands in a narrow alley, and officials said this slowed the rescue. Residents and local young men reached people first, one painter using his hanging painting platform behind the building. Fire engines, SDRF teams and police then took over, iron window grilles were broken, ladders were used, and a municipal crane lifted a cancer patient down from the fifth floor (Dainik Jagran, Free Press Journal). The fire was put out completely between 1 am and 1.30 am, according to a fire engine driver quoted by ANI. Some people were taken to hospital with breathing trouble as a precaution. The cause has not been confirmed, and the district collector said an inquiry would also look at whether fire safety rules were followed.

What the reports say

• When: Wednesday 11 November 2026; the start is given as about 4 pm (Free Press Journal, Dainik Bhaskar, ANI), between 4.30 and 5 pm (a resident quoted by Navbharat Live) and about 5 pm (NDTV Profit)
• Where: Bagadia Tower, near Old Central Kotwali police station and Kanthal Chauraha, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh; a building in a narrow alley
• Building: Described as five storeys, residential and commercial (NDTV, NDTV Profit, Navbharat Times); Dainik Bhaskar says four storeys. A medical store on the ground floor, flats above
• Where the fire started: In the ground-floor medical store, according to the police superintendent; the shop shutter was closed and smoke rose through a ventilation chamber (Navbharat Live, Free Press Journal)
• People trapped: Early reports 10 to 15, including women and children; Dainik Jagran, 25 or more on floors three to five
• People rescued: About 50 evacuated (Free Press Journal, Dainik Bhaskar); more than 300 residents rescued (ANI headline); not reconciled
• Deaths: None reported by any page we opened
• Hospital: Some of those rescued were sent to hospital as a precaution for smoke (ANI, NDTV Profit, Navbharat Times); one woman was admitted after her condition worsened (Dainik Jagran); Free Press Journal reports a firefighter collapsed from suffocation and was brought out by colleagues
• Response: Municipal fire engines (reported as 6, 7, more than 10 and 10 to 12), SDRF, police, district administration, a municipal crane, ladders, a painters’ hanging platform, local residents; a drone was used to watch the scene (NDTV)
• Cause: Not confirmed
• Fire out: Completely extinguished between 1 am and 1.30 am on the night of the fire, a fire engine driver told ANI

Where reports differ and what we do not know

• How many were trapped: Early reports gave 10 to 15 (NDTV, IANS, Navbharat Live); NDTV Profit says more than a dozen; Dainik Jagran says more than 25 on floors three to five. The count moved as the rescue went on, so we give the range and no single figure.
• How many were rescued: Free Press Journal and Dainik Bhaskar say 50 were evacuated; ANI says more than 300 residents were rescued. ANI also quotes the police superintendent that the upper floor has four flats. The two figures may count different things, and we cannot say which is right.
• Time of the fire: About 4 pm (three outlets), between 4.30 and 5 pm (a resident) and about 5 pm (NDTV Profit). The first call to the fire service is not published.
• Floors: Five storeys in most pages, four in Dainik Bhaskar.
• Number of fire engines: Six (NDTV, Navbharat Live), seven (the superintendent in ANI, Dainik Jagran), more than 10 (IANS), 10 to 12 with 25 to 30 water tankers used (a fire engine driver in ANI). Engines may have arrived in turns.
• Length of the rescue: About two hours (NDTV Profit, IANS), about four hours (Dainik Jagran). The fire itself took until about 1 am to put out completely.
• Casualties: ANI, NDTV Profit and Navbharat Times say no casualty or injury, while also reporting that people went to hospital for smoke; Free Press Journal and Dainik Jagran each report one person who became unwell. We say no death was reported and count people unwell as unknown.
• What was in the shop: The tower owner alleged, in Free Press Journal and Dainik Bhaskar, that expired medicines were stored in vacant shops and that a complaint he filed on 11 August was not acted on; a ward representative told Navbharat Times that a lot of scrap was kept in the shop. These are allegations. The collector said an inquiry would examine them and the building’s fire safety, and none has reported yet.
• Fire safety in the building: Dainik Bhaskar’s ground report says the building had no emergency exit and not enough fire-fighting equipment. We found no official statement on this.
• Cause: The superintendent said the fire probably began in the medical store. No page we opened names a cause such as a short circuit, stock or a heater, and none should be assumed.

What this case teaches

Three things stand out in this case. The first is the closed shutter. Police said smoke from the shop could not leave at street level and went up through a ventilation chamber to the flats and the third-floor hall, which is why people far above the shop could not get down. That is the police reading, not an investigation finding, but it matches how smoke behaves in a building with one shaft and one stair. Smoke, not flame, is what trapped these people.

The second is access. The tower is in a narrow alley, so engines, ladders and the crane had to work in tight space, and the first help was a ladder and a painters’ platform brought by neighbours. Anyone who lives or works in the old parts of an Indian city can ask the same question: if the stair fills with smoke, how would a fire engine reach my window? The third is the question of what is kept below. Whether expired medicines, scrap or anything else was stored in the shop is only alleged so far, and the inquiry the collector promised should say. A shop under flats should not hold stock that burns or smokes heavily.

What readers can do is simple. Know your second way out, keep the stair and any exit door free, and treat smoke as the danger even when you cannot see flames. If you live above a shop, read our guide on living above a shop. If the stair is full of smoke, stay in a room, shut the door, put wet cloth along the gap and call 101 or 112, giving your floor and flat number, as the guide on being trapped in smoke explains. Do not use the lift. Our high-rise fire safety guide explains what residents of taller buildings should know.