Fire in MHADA transit camp, eleven suffocate

Ninety-two-year-old Kamini Bane, who is hard of hearing, was woken at around 3.30 am to panic in her house. Fire alarms were blaring, smoke was fast filling the corridors of the building, and soon the electricity went out. Living on the fourth floor, she, her 70-year-old daughter, and her grandchildren needed a way out

MUMBAI: A fire broke out in a MHADA transit camp in the New Hind mill compound, Byculla, at 3.43 am on Thursday, leaving 11 people reeling from suffocation. It was extinguished by 7.20 am. No casualties were reported, as most of the residents managed to escape or converged on the refuge areas and terrace of the 24-storey building.

Fire breakout at 24-story-building MHADA Ghodapdeo, Byculla. 11 people were admitted to the hospital for suffocation. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

The fire originated in the electric wiring duct on one half of the building, spreading the smoke through the duct and the unused garbage duct. It remained confined to the electric meter cabin, wiring, cable, electric installation, scrap material in the electric duct, garbage and refuse material in the garbage duct. According to a MHADA spokesperson, the fire systems were all working, fire alarms and sprinkler system included, although none of the residents reported seeing the sprinklers work.

Ninety-two-year-old Kamini Bane, who is hard of hearing, was woken at around 3.30 am to panic in her house. Fire alarms were blaring, smoke was fast filling the corridors of the building, and soon the electricity went out. Living on the fourth floor, she, her 70-year-old daughter, and her grandchildren needed a way out.

“My brother picked both of them up and brought them down,” said Pratiksha Sawant, Bane’s granddaughter. “They had some breathing difficulties, but they were fine. We will go to my sister’s house now.”

Not everyone was as lucky as the nonagenarian and her family. Eleven of those who suffocated severely had to be taken to hospital; nine of them to KEM, one to J J Hospital and one to Nair Hospital. “I have asthma,” said Shruti Karade, a twelfth-floor resident who was taken to JJ, “so I could not breathe at all in the smoke. I was coughing, I couldn’t talk, and my chest was all jammed. I thought I would die.”

Fire in MHADA transit camp, eleven suffocate

Karade first insisted on staying in her home, but then was slowly guided by her family to the refuge area on the eighth floor, where around 200 to 250 people had gathered. Feeling better there, they waited for around two hours till the fire brigade gave the okay for the residents to trickle down. Karade was given the option of a stretcher, but with some help and pauses, she made it down on foot. The ambulance at the site stabilised her with oxygen but nonetheless took her to the hospital for further treatment at around 7 am. Back in a few hours, she said the smell was still affecting her.

A majority of the residents had gathered in the two refuge areas and building terrace. On the higher floors where the smoke was too much, some like 18th-floor resident Yahoo Ibrahim just went to a neighbour’s house and stuck their heads out of the window for fresh air. While each floor had a fire extinguisher and a bucket, it was not of much help in the darkness and enveloping smoke.

By afternoon, residents on each floor had cleaned out the ash in the scorched electric ducts. They shared a kinship, having been shifted to the MHADA transit camp in 2013 from the Botawala Chawl, Patriwala Chawl, Laxmi Nivas Chawl and Shri Babudev Chawl from Mazgaon when the chawls went into redevelopment. “If we clean it up quickly, the work can start earlier,” said Aqeela Khan, a second-floor resident.

The residents of the flats on the side where the fire started are looking at days ahead without electricity. When questioned, a MHADA official told HT that the burnt wiring would first have to be dismantled and then reinstalled, but they were trying to get the electricity back within a week. She added that the rehabilitation of the residents from Botawala Chawl would happen within a month or two. “All the buildings in Mazgaon are reportedly ready,” said Aqeela. “We were supposed to get our houses in December. Why don’t they just shift us all there?”