Parramatta unit fire victim revealed as Raunak Chaudhary

The distraught flatmate who survived a unit fire is “broken” that onlookers chose to film the inferno instead of calling for help. He has paid tribute to his “kind, soft-hearted” friend who died after the blaze.

The indelible image of onlookers recording him pleading for help on the balcony of a Parramatta unit on Monday, while his friend lay unconscious inside, is seared into the memory of Prince.

The 20-year-old has told of the horror that confronted him in the early hours of Monday morning when he woke up to smoke and flames at the one-bedroom Campbell St unit and raced to the balcony yelling for help from the blaze that claimed the life of Raunak Chaudhary.

He was mortified residents in neighbouring unit complexes were filming instead of calling emergency services.

“Even if someone called three or four minutes before, they were just watching and making videos. I was totally broke from that moment,’’ he said.

“How could someone be so rude, just standing on the balcony taking video?’’

Prince said residents in his double-concrete complex were helpful but those in neighbouring properties “should have called the police or fire brigade’’ instead of film. He believes if someone called sooner, his 27-year-old friend might have survived.

About 2.40am, the sound of the inferno woke Prince up.

He opened his bedroom door that led to the living room where Mr Chaudhary slept in the third-storey balcony.

Raunak Chaudhary on the balcony of his Campbell St unit where a fire ripped through and later claimed his life.

“When I opened the door there was smoke and flames over my face and I rang for help from the balcony,’’ Prince said.

“Everything was burning. I was crying for help, I shouted ‘help me, help me’. I made a call to the police and fire brigade and help was there.

“When I saw inside it was like a whole furnace in there. Everything was burning. I couldn’t see my friend. There was fire everywhere.’’

He last saw Mr Chaudhary playing cards with another friend in the unit at 8.40pm. The friend left the home about midnight, a couple of hours before the fire started.

Prince was from the same state in India, Haryana, where Mr Chaudhary grew up and lived until he moved to Australia in September 2019 to study Masters in Networking at Western Sydney University.

He praised his friend who he said had “more knowledge than Google” and helped him settle in Australia when he moved from India in December.

“He was very helping and very soft, kind-hearted person,’’ he said.

“He had a lot of knowledge, more than Google. On the first day I came to Australia, I met him. He was a friend of a friend. When I met him, he told me everything about this country like rules and regulations.’’

Prince was discharged from Westmead Hospital on Monday afternoon after hearing the shattering news of Mr Chaudhary’s death.

“I was crying badly when the nurse said ‘We tried hard but his heart was not working’. I was crying badly and fell on the table,’’ he said.

Mr Chaudhary smoked cigarettes but NSW Fire and Rescue Supt Adam Dewberry said investigators were focused on electrical appliances possibly causing the fire in the lounge room.

“We’re not satisfied there was a working smoke alarm in that apartment, and that will form the coronial inquiry,’’ Supt Dewberry said.

“No one saw it and we didn’t see one but that’s not to say it hadn’t fallen off the roof.’’

The landlords’ son insisted there was a smoke alarm in the apartment.

“I’m telling you there was a smoke detector in the flat when people signed the lease in October last year,’’ he said.

Under NSW legislation introduced in March 2020, NSW landlords and agents are required to ensure that smoke alarms installed in rented properties are in working order.

They must ensure faulty alarms are repaired within two business days.

A GoFundMe page has been established to raise funds for the family of Mr Chaudhary, the eldest of three children, whose body is being flown to India.

He was due to fly home in August and later attend his younger brother’s wedding in November.

Prince survived the fire that claimed the life of his ‘kind and soft-hearted’ flatmate.

Instead, the family is grieving over his death, shortly after 5am in Westmead Hospital.

On the fundraising page, campaign manager Mohit Rana said the hopes and dreams of Mr Chaudhary’s parents were shattered following their son’s death.

“He was the kind of guy who would go out of his way to help someone,’’ he said.

“Raunak came to Australia in September 2019 on a student visa and had big hopes of completing his Masters in Networking and supporting his parents and younger brother back home.’’

Prince (in the corner of the balcony) survived the inferno. Picture 7NEWS

Mr Chaudhary, who worked as an Uber food delivery driver, was in his last semester at university.

“He went too far too soon, putting his family in a loss which can never be filled,’’ Mr Rana said.

“While studying he was also providing financial support his parents back home. This tragic incident will leave (a) lifetime (of) misery and pain for them.’’

The campaign aims to raise $100,000 to cover the cost of sending his body back home and financially supporting the family.

The campaign has garnered strong support and raised $12,000 so far

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