Mumbai: 75-yr-old woman dies as fire breaks out at Dahisar high-rise

According to officials, the 23-storey building is a newly constructed Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) structure, which was currently partially occupied till the eighteenth floor.

The fire broke out in the basement and spread through the electrical duct and wiring up to the third floor.

Even as the blaze remained confined to the lower floors, the smoke logged up until the 23rd floor.

Senior officials from Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) said that a preliminary probe points to a short circuit in the electrical unit as the cause of the fire.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Deepak Ghosh, MFB’s Deputy Chief Fire Officer in Region 4, said that one senior citizen was killed in the blaze, while at least 45 people sustained minor injuries.

“A 75-year-old woman was killed in the fire as she tried to escape from her home to the upper floors where there was intensive heating and smoke, which she inhaled. We rescued her and shifted her to the hospital, where she was declared dead,” said Ghosh.

“We safely rescued at least 36 other people from the building of which, initially, we sent at least eight people to the hospital. However, many people sustained minor injuries owing to inhalation of smoke and as they reported to several hospitals, the tally of injured rose to 45 by Sunday night,” Ghosh told The Indian Express.

The injured were admitted across four different hospitals including the privately-run Rohit hospital, Northern Care hospital, Pragati hospital, as well as the civic-run Shatabdi hospital in Kandivali.

The identity of the victims is yet to be ascertained by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

While officials maintained that the building had obtained Fire NOC, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) is set to launch an investigation on Monday to determine whether the systems were compliant.

The blaze on Sunday was extinguished by 6.10 pm.

In a bid to aid the rescue operations, the MFB deployed at least eight fire engines, eight jumbo tankers, two special devices like ladders, hydraulic platforms as well as one breathing apparatus on the site.

From the homepage

Bihar SIR: Voter list shrinks by 6% after 3-month revision, about 68.5 lakh names deleted

Stalin’s caution in sparing Vijay backfires, actor issues challenge to CM: ‘Do whatever you want to do with me’

‘Had two options before me after winning elections…’: Omar says he would rather resign than get statehood with BJP as ally