Around 6 in the morning, the trio heard the sound of a blast coming from their family-run medical shop at the Nigam Mestry chawl in Andheri (W). Leaving the rest of the family sleeping, the three men ran to check what was happening.
As usual, family patriarch Mozin Khan (58) was up early for his morning prayers, and so were his two sons Imtiaz (32) and Nizam (19). The ritual saved their lives on Thursday, when a fire in their house killed nine members of their family.
Around 6 in the morning, the trio heard the sound of a blast coming from their family-run medical shop at the Nigam Mestry chawl in Andheri (W). Leaving the rest of the family sleeping, the three men ran to check what was happening.
The family lived in a ground plus one structure, and the sound had come from inside the shop at the ground floor. The three men first jumped onto their neighbour's balcony and then took the stairs down from that house.
Before they could alert the rest of the family, the fire had gone out of control. Inside were Mozin's wife Sabunissa (55), their eldest son Siddique (35), his heavily pregnant wife Rabin (28), their two daughters Hani (8) and Tuba (5), Imtiaz's wife Sofia (26), their daughter Aliza (6), and sons Husef (8) and Altamash (3 months). All of them were charred to death.
As the flames engulfed the cramped structure, the entire neighbourhood gathered to try and help. "I dialed the fire brigade's number. They picked up immediately, but did not reach for the next half an hour. I called them three times during that period," said Mohammad Ali Nagori, a neighbour.
"There is an acute shortage of water in our area, but every one brought out whatever water they had," another neighbour added. The fire brigade had to plough through the roof to reach inside the house but it was already too late by then.
"The only exit was through the medical shop, which was already on fire. Since the flames had spread, the others were not able to jump into my balcony and escape," said next-door neighbour Anwar Azmi.
"Prima facie, the cause of death appears to be asphyxia or suffocation. The shock and fear they would have experienced after waking up to a burning home would also have played a role. While others were brought dead to the hospital, Rabin had 45% burns and was shifted to the Kasturba hospital, but she died on the way," said Dr Ramesh Chaturvedi, dean at the Cooper hospital.
He added, "A fireman was also injured and needed stitches. He was sent home after the treatment."
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