3 die, 8 injured in Mulund fire
Three persons suffocated to death, while eight others were injured in a fire at a residential building in Mulund (east) early on Thursday. Unfortunately, the deceased and the injured include the persons who tried to escape, while those who stayed indoors and were close to the origin of the fire were safe. The Navghar police has only registered a case of accidental death and is investigating the case for possible negligence charges.
At around 12.30 am, an electric meter box on the ground floor of the six-storeyed Vaiti Apartment on Chaphekar Marg caught fire owing to a suspected short circuit. This caused the meter boxes to explode with a muffled bang in quick succession. “The explosions caused the fire, which began spreading up to the first and second floors through the elevator shaft. The shaft is directly opposite the meter boxes. A student living on the first floor heard the bangs,” said senior police inspector Ganesh Gaikwad of Navghar police station. Mr Gaikwad also said that the fire was only restricted to the first two floors. “We are awaiting a report by the fire brigade to decide if a case of negligence can be registered,” he added.
Soon, people from nearby buildings gathered and asked the affected residents to stay indoors. While most people stayed in, the residents in flats 302 and 405 failed to respond and tried to escape.
The building’s watchman, Dhan Singh Thapa said he navigated through the thick smoke to open the terrace doors so that the people living on the higher floors could take refuge there. “I ran through the smoke and opened the terrace and then somehow rushed back out. Somehow the people who tried to escape couldn’t hear us, may be because they panicked or we weren’t audible owing to the commotion,” Mr Thapa said.
The fire brigade, which doused the flames in half-an-hour using four tenders, pulled out 11 unconscious people from the gangway on the first floor. “They seemed to have fallen over each other while escaping. It seemed to be a stampede-like situation,” said a fire officer.
The deceased have been identified as Vasant Pasad (59), his wife Varsha (53) and Hema Chheda (58). Doctors told the police that they died due to suffocation.
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