Mumbai: A fire engulfed a rooftop restaurant in the wee hours of Friday claiming 14 lives, including a young woman celebrating her birthday with her friends, in central Mumbai’s Kamala Mills Compound — a commercial hub with offices, eateries and stores.
Twenty others who were injured in the fire were taken to King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital and Sion Hospital. The Dean of KEM, Avinash Supe, said: “Twelve of them who had come to the hospital had superficial burns [and] were stabilised and discharged.” He said that a post mortem was conducted on the 14 bodies that were brought to the hospital with the cause of death being “burns and suffocation”.
It started around 12.30am
The fire began at around 12.30am in the 1 Above pub on the terrace of a four-storey building and spread to Mojo Bistro, another pub on a floor below, in the Trade House Building in Lower Parel area, which were popular night spots.
It is still not clear whether an electrical short circuit was the cause of the fire but in less than 30 minutes, the fire engulfed the entire building and took hours to be extinguished.
With no clear exits, most of the women who took refuge in a washroom died of asphyxiation, said fire fighting officers.
Videos of 28-year-old Khusbhoo Mehta with her friend Sinjal Mehta, who also died in the fire, show her all ready to cut her birthday cake before the fire engulfed them. Khushboo’s grandfather, Babu Lal, said that there was an illegal bamboo structure on the terrace and that fire safety norms were ignored by the restaurant owners.
Doctor Sulbha KG Arora, who was at the restaurant, tweeted, “There was a stampede and someone pushed me. People were running over me even as the ceiling above me was collapsing in flames. Still don’t know how I got out alive. Some powers were definitely protecting me.” She also said, “No one knew where the fire exits were. We were just trapped.”
Heroes
While some of the pub’s staff members came out to help guests, two security guards working at Times Now TV channel, Suraj Giri and Mahesh Sable, turned into heroes; they saved several people by showing them the way to escape from another terrace since the regular exit was blocked. The TV channel’s office is a part of the Trade House building.
Mala Kashyap, who was at Mojo, spoke of the fire spreading in seconds and security guards helping customers. She also felt that the next time she goes out, she’ll make sure the outlet has all the fire safety measures in place and will remain calm in case of a similar situation.
Siddharth Shroff, a survivor with 20 per cent burns who is being treated in a hospital, said that when the fire occurred people started shouting for help and looked for the exit, which was very narrow.
Police have booked Hratesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Manka of C Grade Hosptiality, which manages the 1 Above restaurant, along with others under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others).
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in a tweet that he had asked Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner, Ajoy Mehta “To take strong action against erring officials immediately”.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya also tweeted, “Fire at Pub at Kamala Mill Compound Mumbai I had urged CM & BMC Commissioner to Order Special Fire Audit of all such Pub, Hooka Parlours & Farsan Mart/Workshops of Mumbai. 2 week back similar type of fire at Farsan Workshop Sakinaka 1 dozen people had died (sic).” He also said several establishments at Kamala Mills compound are illegal and that the place the fire broke out was illegal.
Senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the alleged corrupt practices and functioning of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which is controlled by the political party Shiv Sena. Aaditya Thackeray, Sena youth leader and son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, said in a tweet, “I pray for the families who’ve been injured and those who lost their lives in the tragic fire at kamala Mills. Really unfortunate and sad. On the administrative side, investigation will happen, and the BMC will come down hard on the violations of fire safety norms.”
Already five BMC officials attached to the fire brigade and G South Ward (municipal area) have been suspended in connection with the fire.
