Six persons were killed and 147 others injured late on Monday afternoon after a major fire broke out in the State Government-run Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Kamghar Hospital at Andheri (East) in north-west Mumbai.
A majority of those injured, who have been admitted to the various hospitals in the metropolis, were patients and staffers.
Informed official sources said that the toll might go up further as some of the injured were in a critical condition.
The fire was noticed near the operation theatre of the five-storey hospital located at Marol locality of Andheri (East). Before long, the fire spread to other floors stranding more 150 people in the fire-engulfed building.
As the fire spread in the building, a few patients panicked and jumped out of the fourth floor window. They suffered fractures.
However, within minutes of the fire being reported, at least 12 fire tenders, 15 water tankers and other specialised equipment arrived on the scene to battle with the blaze. The fire brigade used ladders to bring down those trapped in the third and fourth floors of the hospital building.
Leaping flames, coupled thick cloud of smoke, made the rescue operation difficult for the fire brigade personnel. After battling with the fire for more than three and a half hours, the fire brigade extinguished the blaze at 7.35 pm.
At around 8.30 pm, the officials at the BMC’s disaster control room pegged the number of deaths at six and those admitted to various hospitals at 147.
A majority of those rescued had suffered burn wounds. Of the injured, 19 were admitted to Cooper Hospital, Andheri (West), 39 to P Thakrey Trauma Hospital, Jogeshwari (East), 40 to Holi Spirit Hospital, Andheri (East), 44 t0 Seven Hills Hospital, Andheri (East), three to Hiranandani Hospital, Powai and two to Sidhharth Hospital, Goregaon.
Initial reports said that the fire might have broken out in the hospital building with a glass façade because of an electrical short circuit. The hospital is located in the MIDC area, an industrial hub in north-west Mumbai.
Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, who visited the mishap site along with senior civic officials, that the BMC would investigate the cause of fire and strict action would be taken against those guilty of lapses.
Meanwhile, thick clouds of smoke emanating from the fire-hit hospital travelled quite a bit, reducing the visibility in the area and leading to peak-hour traffic jams in the areas of the neighbourhood.
The metropolis has witnessed nearly ten fire mishaps during the current year. In the first such mishap that took place on June 1, the fire br9oke out in the third and fourth floor of the six-storey Scindia House at Ballard Estate in downtown south Mumbai.
Twenty four hours later, another fire broke out at a leather company in Reay Road in south-central Mumbai. No injuries were reported in the mishap. On June 9, a massive fire broke out at Patel Chambers at Fort in south Mumbai. Two firemen were injured after a part of the building collapsed due to fire.
On June 13, a major fire that broke out in the top floors of a 34-storey building “Beaumonde Towers” where B-town’s reigning actress Deepika Padukone lives, spread. However, two hours later, the fire fighters controlled the blaze and rescued 90-odd residents safely.
On August 5, a major fire swept through the Regional Transport Office (RTO) at Tardeo in south Mumbai here in the early hours of Sunday, gutting hundreds of documents, licences, furniture, computers, printers and other items. There were no causalities or injuries in the mishap.
On December 3 this year, a massive fire had ripped through the thick forests of Aarey colony that falls inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) precincts at Goregaon (East) in north-Mumbai, gutting forest area measuring nearly 4 km.
Earlier on December 29 last year, 14 persons were killed and 55 others were injured in the massive fire that ripped Mojo’s Bistro lounge, neighbouring 1Above casual dining restaurant and London Taxi Gastro pub at Trade House in the Kamala Mills compound at Lower Parel in south-central Mumbai.
A three-member Bombay High Court-appointed inquiry committee, comprising retired judge AV Sawant, architect Vasant Thakur and former municipal commissioner K Nalinakshan that had gone into the circumstances leading to the fire in Kamala Mill compound, recommended in its report that the court take “appropriate punitive action” against Kamala Mills co-owner Ramesh Gowani. Gowani holds 95 per cent of the share value of the property. He had permitted the restaurant owners to make unauthorised additions to the structures, the committee said.
Similarly a departmental inquiry conducted simultaneously by the BMC held nine officials responsible for issuing various permissions to the hotel owners without visiting the site or doing cross-checking of information submitted by the restaurant owners.