One person was killed and 14 others were rescued on Sunday afternoon when fire broke in an old dilapidated building located behind Taj Mahal Hotel on Merry Weather Road at Colaba in south Mumbai. Two persons, including a fireman, were injured in the mishap.
Though the cause of the fire has not been established yet, informed sources attributed the mishap to a possible electric short-circuit.
The fire, which broke out in a third floor flat of Church Chember Building at around 12.10 pm, spread to stair case of the second floor of the ground plus three-storey structure. “The fire was confined to electric wiring, electric installation, furniture, household articles in residential flat on 3rd floor with Loft in an area about approx.5000 sq.ft and staircase of the 2nd floor,” a senior fire official said.
One Sham Iyer (54), a resident of the flat where fire broke out, went back inside the flat after his family members ram out, to extinguish and got trapped in the blaze, before the fire brigade arrived on the scene.
During the subsequent search of the flat, Iyer was found with critical burn wounds on his back. Iyer was rushed to GT Hospital, when he was declared upon arrival. Another injured resident, identified as one Yusuf Punawala is undergoing treatment at the Bombay Hospital.
A fireman Bhurmal Santosh Patil from Mandvi Fire Station suffered suffocation while undertaking rescue operation. He was treated inside an ambulance near the mishap site and allowed to go.
The fire brigade personnel battled with fire and smoke for three hours, before bring the situation under control. They used four fire fighting jets, four fire engines, two Turn Table Ladders and one Angus ladder in the operation.
Of those rescued, five persons – including two girls and a boy — were brought out in a suffocated state from the loft of third floor, while two others were rescued with the help of Angus Ladder — a 45 feet manual extension. Three persons were brought down from the building with the help of a Turn Table Ladder, while the remaining persons were rescued safely by firemen from the staircase using breathing sets.