Fourteen persons suffered burn injuries in a fire in a Mumbai Central high rise on Monday. They were admitted to the BMC-run Nair hospital and the nearby Jagjivan Ram hospital with minor burns.
Six fire tankers, eight fire engines, four ambulances and three hydraulic platforms were pressed into service at the 21-storey building that houses 40 railway official quarters and 40 staff quarters. The cause of the fire, which broke out in the forenoon, is yet to be ascertained.
Fire officials said that the fire broke out in the fourth floor and spread to the 20th. This was mainly because the service duct was choked with unused materials, put there by the residents.
The fire brigade helped sixty-five residents out of the building.
A building resident, who gave her name as Shweta, said that all that she could see around her was smoke. "It was blinding. We got to know something was wrong, so we rushed out of the building immediately."
According to the fire brigade officials, it took two hours to douse the fire, because none of the fire fighting equipment installed in the building was functional. "It could have led to a major disaster if timely action was not taken. There was tremendous heat and smoke in the staircase area and the fire was rapidly moving towards the residents' homes between the 17th and the 21st floor, before we intervened," said deputy fire officer P Rahangdale.
The flow of traffic around the area was hit following the incident. BK Upadhyay, joint commissioner of police, traffic, said, "We did not allow vehicular movement anywhere near the affected area. We closed Nair Road entirely after the rescue operations began. The traffic was diverted towards Bellasis Road and Tardeo, which resulted in traffic congestion. However, several officials were deployed to control the traffic situation, especially during peak hours."
An under-construction building also caught fire on Monday behind Hub mall at Malad. However, no injury or casualty was reported there.
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