Diwali tragedy: 6 firefighters die of suffocation in a lift

Six firefighters working with the city fire services died due to suffocation after they got stuck in a lift in a housing complex where they had gone to put out a blaze in the wee hours of the day.

The firemen were among the team which went to attend to a call from the Tarangam housing society in Vartak Nagar locality of the city,police said. At around 11.30 pm last night,the fire brigade first received a call about a fire in a house on the 14th floor of Punarvasu building in the complex. The firemen rushed there,put out the blaze and returned only to be called once again at about 3.30 am,police said.

The six firemen took the lift in the building to reach the 14th floor but it failed and got stuck in between. All efforts to rescue them failed and they were asphyxiated to to death,police said.

The deceased have been identified as P J Kale,S Thanekar,K G Patil,S K Shinde,S R Jamadar and G C Singh. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be known. The reason why the lift got stuck was being ascertained. The fire was a small one but the smoke emanating from it claimed the lives of the firemen,police said.