7 sustain burn injuries in fire at cloud kitchen in Mumbai’s Kandivali

According to residents and eyewitnesses, the cloud kitchen had seven employees—six women who were ancillary workers and a man who was the head cook.

“It was around 9am when the entire neighborhood reeked of gas. I came out of my flat to see if there was any leakage on one of the pipelines laid underneath the road. What followed was the noise of a blast, after which I witnessed that a fire broke out at the shop  across the road,” Ashok Sharma (42), a resident told The Indian Express.

Sharma said soon after the blaze broke out, three women came running out from the front door who were rescued by Sharma’s family.

“The sarees of the three ladies caught fire. My mother got a blanket and doused the fire on them immediately. That’s why they did not suffer serious burn injury. The remaining, however, sustained injuries up to 90 per cent,” Sharma added.

The seven injured have been identified as Shivani Gandhi (51), Nitu Gupta (31), Janaki Gupta (39), Manaram Kumacat (55), Raksha Joshi (47), Durga Gupta (30) and Poonam (28).

While Raksha, Durga and Poonam sustained  85-90 per cent burn injuries, the remaining victims were 70 per cent injured.

Shivani Gandhi is the owner of the kitchen while Kumacat served as the head cook, who only sustained burn injury on his ankle.

Civic authorities transported the seven injured to the ESCI and BDBA hospital in Mumbai. The doctors shifted them to Kasturba hospital for further treatment and currently, all of them are under observation.

“The victims were employees and lived in nearby chawl areas. They had gathered at the kitchen earlier in the day, probably because they had a bulk order for catering during Navratri,” said Akshay Garodia, another resident.

Civic officials said that while the actual cause behind the fire is yet to be ascertained, preliminary evidence indicates that the blaze may have originated from electric wire and installations.

“The fire remained confined to the electrical installation space and the kitchen area. Before the flames could spread to a larger area, they were brought under control,” the official added.