Five people, including 4 senior citizens, perished and several injured after a massive fire broke out, on Thursday evening, inside a 15 storeyed building in Tilak Nagar, Chembur, Mumbai. The reason behind the fire is unknown.
The victims were rushed to Rajawadi Hospital and declared brought dead. The deceased were identified as Sunita Joshi (72 years old,) Bhalchandra Joshi (72 years old,) Suman Shrinivas Joshi (83 years old,) Sarala Suresh Gangar (52 years old) and Laxmiben Premji Gangar (83 years old.)
Dr. Vidya Thakur, the Medical Superintendent of Rajawadi Hospital, said, “All three casualties seem to have caused due to smoke inhalation since there are no visible burn injuries. The 86-year-old patient who has survived the incident is in a state of shock. He hasn’t suffered any burn injuries or internal complications due to smoke inhalation,”
Shrinvas Joshi, 86 years old and Chagan Singh, a 28 year old fireman, are injured and undergoing treatment.
According to sources, the fire broke out on the 10th floor of Sargam Society, around 7:50 P.M. The fire soon spread to the upper floors of the residential building. Most of the people vacated the building, but people residing on the upper floors got stuck. A Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder further led to the fire turning more severe.
At least five fire brigades, four water tankers and an ambulance reached the spot to rescue the people trapped inside the building.
An official of the Disaster Management Unit of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said, “Our fire brigade control room got information about the incident at 7.51 pm after which our fire fighting team along with an ambulance rushed to the spot.”
The fire was extinguished and rescue operations were completed in two hours.
The authorities launched an investigation to find out the cause of the fire.
Stay tuned for further updates about the story.
