Man killed, 7 injured as fire breaks out at Mumbai eatery

According to the BMC’s disaster cell, the deceased has been identified as Noor Alam (38). The injured have been identified as Pravin Pujari (34), Mukesh Gupta (34), Shiv Mohan (24), Deepali Godatkar (24), Sana Shaikh (25), Shridevi Bandichhode (31) and Kamlesh Jaiswal (22). Civic officials maintained that all the injured are currently undergoing treatment at Sion hospital.

According to chief fire officer Ravindra Ambulgekar, the eatery also served as a cloud kitchen that used to deliver food to locals.

“The victims comprise both employees who worked at the joint and customers present there to collect their order. The person who died was one of the cooks whose full body got charred in the fire,” Ambulgekar told The Indian Express on Friday.

The chief fire officer said the blaze erupted from an LPG cylinder blast, which might have been triggered by a short circuit in the compressor system of the air conditioning unit that was in close proximity with the kitchen.

“Prima facie probe suggests that the blast might have been triggered by the compressor of the air conditioner. The kitchen was inside a congested room. Luckily, the eatery was on the ground floor so the people present there could come out easily, else there would have been more fatalities,” he added.

Meanwhile, local eye witnesses said there was a huge noise of a blast, following which the fire broke out.

“There was a huge noise, following which people from nearby shops came running there to see what happened. On Fridays, many people come to the Dargah and it was very crowded. A number of locals joined hands to carry out the rescue operation before the fire engines arrived at the spot,” said Asif Ali, a local flower vendor.

Hussain Rizvi, another local businessman told The Indian Express, “The eatery didn’t have its own firefighting system. We tried extinguishing the blaze with fire extinguishers. This had stopped the blaze from spreading into the adjoining stores. There’s a clothing store nearby and if the blaze had reached that store, then the magnitude of the fatality would have been more.”

“The fire vans reached the spot shortly after receiving the call and the blaze was doused within 30 minutes. The fire didn’t spread and was limited to the kitchen, where it broke out, as locals tried extinguishing it with fire extinguishers,” added the official. Civic officials said the blaze was extinguished by around 7.15pm.