A fire tore through a three-storey commercial building in the Aliganj neighbourhood of Lucknow (the capital of India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh) on 22 June 2026, killing 15 people — most of them students attending a graphics animation centre — and injuring seven others. The blaze, which broke out around 2:30 p.m. and took three hours to control, is believed to have started in an air-conditioning duct, with thick smoke and a lack of adequate exits trapping victims on the upper floors; eight students jumped from the building to escape, and bystanders spread mattresses to break their falls. Authorities arrested three building owners, suspended four officials over regulatory failures, and formed a Special Investigation Team to report within seven days, while scrutiny intensified over a 2016 demolition order for unauthorised construction on the premises that was quietly revoked just two months after it was issued.