Goregaon building fire: ‘We sought refuge in toilet for 30 minutes… but it felt like eternity’

A resident of the fifth floor of the Jay Bhavani residential building at Goregaon where a major fire was reported Friday, Preeti said, “The smoke was so intense that at first, it felt like there had been an outbreak in our own house, but soon we realised. When we opened the door, a lot of smoke blew in. We were scared and soon, my daughter started puking because of breathlessness.”

“So we wet a blanket, wrapped it around ourselves and then, we sought refuge inside our home’s toilet. We were inside the toilet for half an hour but it felt like an eternity,” said Preeti, adding that with her young daughter puking, she was starting to lose hope.

Only after the fire had been doused that the family was rescued. Hailing from Buxar, Preeti Kumari had arrived with her daughter from their hometown only six months ago while her husband, a Yoga teacher, had been living in the building for the past five years.

Situated opposite Goregaon’s Azad Maidan, Jay Bhavani building was home to 61 rooms which housed members hailing from various parts of the country like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh as well as Nepal.

Many residents of the building, according to civic officials, belonged to the Waghri community.

Even as the fire remained confined to the lower floors of the seven-storey structure, intensive smoke logged the stairways and the other rooms of the establishment.

While some like Preeti’s family remained inside the building, many people rushed towards the terrace whereas some others managed to run outside the building.

Speaking to The Indian Express, survivors recalled that with everyone rushing to escape, the staircase became jam-packed. Furthermore, the fire had led to a power outage, adding to the residents’ confusion.

Mansu Talsaniya (38), one of the survivors who did not lose any of his sixteen family members, said that he hurt himself while running on the stairs. “I stay on the second floor. Since there was a lot of smoke downstairs, my brother and I decided to rush towards the terrace. But it was so dark and such was the chaos that I tripped on someone and hurt my leg.”

Hand marks are seen on blackened doors, walls and stairways of the ill-fated Goregaon building where a massive fire claimed seven lives. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)

A painter by profession, Mansu lived in a one-room-kitchen flat along with six daughters, parents as well as his brother and his family of six. “My brother has five children while I have six. We were certain that something bad would happen and that we would lose a few of our children. However, we did not lose hope. We kept transferring all of them up to the terrace where there was no suffocation,” added the 38-year-old.

Other families, meanwhile, managed to exit the burning building. Amongst them was Dilip Talsaniya, a resident of the fifth floor, who escaped the building with two children of his family.
“There was so much smoke that not only did we face breathing issues but also, we couldn’t see anybody standing ahead of us,” said Talsaniya.

According to senior Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) officials, flames were fanned owing to the scrap clothes kept therein. Later, the fire and smoke spread out through the lift vents.

Denying the civic allegations, Sunil Oghania whose bundle of clothes remained unharmed by the blaze said, “Fire fighting system is far-fetched. We did not even have a working lift in our building. For over a decade, we have not had a BMC water supply. The BMC is claiming the fire spread owing to the rags but our bundle of clothes have not been burnt.”

With their homes rendered inaccessible, frustration reigned supreme amongst the survivors.

Rajesh Akre, assistant municipal commissioner told The Indian Express, “We have rehabilitated the residents in a municipal school for the time being and after electricity is restored we will transfer them back to the building.”