The Delhi Police personnel, who rushed along with locals into the fire-ravaged five-storey building in Malviya Nagar without protective gear, recalled moments filled with fear and urgency, saying all they could see was people who needed to be saved.However, guilt lingers as, despite their best efforts, there was “only so much” they could do, even as they continued hearing screams of the people trapped inside.Head Constables Dinesh, Deshraj, Rajveer and Kartar were among the first respondents at the Flourish Stay B&B on Wednesday morning as a blaze ripped through the building, killing 12 foreign nationals among 21 people and injuring several others, while at least 58 people were rescued.The officers, along with locals, mounted rescue efforts even before specialised equipment could be deployed.Dinesh, who was on duty in nearby Kumar Basti when the incident was reported, said he immediately alerted senior officers through the police wireless network and rushed to the spot.”When I reached there, the entire hotel was covered in smoke. People on the upper floors were waving their hands and pleading for help. The main passage was engulfed in flames and there was no way for them to come out,” he told PTI.Without waiting for protective gear, Dinesh said he arranged a ladder from the neighbourhood, climbed to the second floor and smashed window panes with a hammer to release smoke trapped inside the rooms.He said he suffered multiple injuries during the rescue operation. “I got burns and cuts from broken glass on my hands, eyes, feet and head. But at that moment, all I could think about was how to save lives,” he said.Dinesh said he managed to rescue two women trapped in a room on the second floor after breaking a window and entering through it.”There were moments when I felt I would not survive. But at that time we could only see the people who needed to be saved,” he said.The head constable himself had a narrow escape. “If I had remained inside for another 15 seconds, I would not have made it out alive. Barely 10 seconds after I climbed down, the electrical wires near the window caught fire and started sparking heavily,” he recalled.Despite rescuing several occupants, Dinesh said the tragedy continues to weigh heavily on the minds of the rescuers.”We still have this regret that we could not save more people. We felt helpless at times. We could hear screams from inside, but there was only so much we could do. We tried our best, but we still feel guilty about those who lost their lives,” he said.As conditions worsened, police personnel improvised to save those stranded on the upper floors. Head Constable Deshraj said officers collected mattresses from nearby shops and spread them on the ground after realising many occupants had no escape route.”We kept telling them not to be afraid and to jump. Several people jumped from the second, third and fourth floors. Some suffered injuries, but their lives were saved,” he said.Rajveer and Kartar said the narrow lanes around the hotel and the large crowd hampered rescue efforts and delayed the movement of ambulances.”Many victims were unconscious. We used bedsheets as makeshift stretchers and carried them to ambulances,” they said.Kartar said distinctions between police personnel and civilians disappeared during the rescue operation. “At that moment nobody was a policeman or an ordinary citizen. Everyone was simply trying to save lives,” he said.According to eyewitnesses, police personnel repeatedly entered the smoke-filled structure despite the danger and worsening conditions.Dinesh’s health deteriorated after prolonged exposure to toxic smoke, but he continued rescuing people before eventually being taken to hospital.