Toddler dies of suffocation in Bandra building fire

A one-and-half-year-old girl today died of suffocation after a fire broke out at an unauthorised structure built on top of the water pump room of a building at Perry Cross Road in suburban Bandra.

Fire brigade officials said the fire started in a structure that was added to the pump room of Shoeb Manzil building and was being used as the residence of the building's watchman.

Electrical wires and household articles in the makeshift structure fuelled the fire, officials said, resulting in choking fumes.

"A girl, about one-and-half-year-old, was rushed to the Holy Family hospital due to suffocation caused by the fumes but was declared dead on arrival. Another child is currently in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit," a fire brigade official said.

The fire brigade got a call about the fire around 12:02 pm today and its personnel reached the spot by 12:30 pm and doused the fire a little later, he said.

Investigations into the cause of the fire are currently underway, an official said, adding that using the pump room for residential purposes was illegal and fire officials have been told to file a police complaint.

Earlier in the day, a fire erupted in a godown at the Mistry Industrial Estate near Marol bus depot in suburban Andheri, leaving two firemen injured.