“We were scared and panicked. I was going to jump from the third floor in order to save myself as we were trapped and were unable to escape through the staircase, but my family stopped me,” says Murlidhar Mallah, a senior citizen who lives in house no. 307 of the Jay Bhavani Housing Society Ltd. building that was engulfed in fire on Friday morning, killing seven persons and injuring 61 others. Mallah, along with his wife Dhanvantri and seven members of his family, had locked themselves in their house for more than two hours to save themselves from the fire. Later, the fire brigade personnel took them out. “We went to sleep at 11 pm as usual. At around 2.30 am, we heard people shouting that a fire had been broken out in the building's lower floors. The elevator was shut. We could not escape by staircase because of the flames,” Mallah said. “I was going to jump from the third floor or was thinking of breaking the glass window of the bathroom and escaping down by clutching the pipeline in order to save myself as we were trapped in fire and were unable to escape through the staircase, but my daughter and other family members stopped me,” he said. Mallah added, “We had no other option than staying up till the fire was doused. We were unable to go down as the lower floors were completely burning. Later, we locked ourselves inside the room. Tied masks on our faces using clothes so that we don't suffocate.” His wife, Dhanvantri, said, “We were all scared and were finding it difficult to breathe. Fire brigade people came very late, at around 5 am.” Mallah's nine family members survived. His son was injured. Thirty residents, including Mallah's family, from the affected building are taking shelter at the BMC school in Unnat Nagar, as after the fire, none of the families were allowed to return until the fire brigade and other safety experts declared the old building safe. Kin of deceased protest as CM ‘leaves without meeting them’ Families and relatives of the deceased staged a protest and sat on a dharna on the street after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde visited the spot, but allegedly left without meeting them. The zonal DCP, ACP, and a senior inspector, along with other cops, were seen struggling to pacify the angry families. The families claimed the police assured them that they would be allowed to meet Shinde but later the CM left the place after speaking to the media and did not meet them, leaving them furious. Shinde visited the seven-story residential building in Mumbai's Goregaon (West) on Friday evening. Later, Congress leader and Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad also visited the site and met the affected families. ADRs registered; probe begins “Seven accidental death reports (ADRs) have been registered at the Goregaon police station. We have already begun an investigation from our end. Statements are being recorded, and postmortems are being conducted,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, zone 11, Ajaykumar Bansal. As per initial information, the fire started at the Jay Bhavani Housing Society Ltd. building, and later it spread to an adjoining building (Samarth Shrusti). “We are probing the matter and will wait for the fire department to submit a report on the incident. If their findings show any congnizable offence, then accordingly, further legal action would be decided,” Bansal added.
