Gas cylinder change sparked Dongri building fire, injuring 3, finds probe

Samin Ansari and her husband Nasir Ansari, who reside on the 15th floor, had replaced their empty cylinder with a new one and were trying to light the gas stove

MUMBAI: Wednesday’s fire in Ansari Heights in Dongri, in which three residents sustained burn injuries and others had a narrow escape, erupted when the residents of a fifteenth-floor apartment were changing their cooking gas cylinder, a probe by the Mumbai fire brigade has revealed. The fire damaged the electrical wiring in the building severely, which ruptured the power supply. Electricity will be restored only after rewiring, testing and a favourable report from the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), said fire brigade officials, indicating its nearly 500 residents would have to spend several days without electricity.

A massive fire broke out in a 22-story building after an LPG cylinder exploded. The incident took place on the 14th floor of Ansari Heights located on Nishan Pada Road in Dongari in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, November 27, 2024. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Chief fire officer Ravindra Ambulgekar said Samin Ansari, 44, and her husband Nasir Ansari, 49, who reside on the fifteenth floor, had replaced their empty cylinder with a new one and were trying to light the gas stove when the fire erupted.

“The new cylinder was leaking from the main valve. So, when Samin Ansari used a lighter to ignite the stove, a fire erupted immediately,” said Ambulgekar. Her husband Nasir Ansari tried to douse the flames, but their gas cylinder exploded, leaving them with severe burns, he added.

Both Samin and Nasir Ansari, who sustained 22% and 15% burn injuries respectively, are recuperating at Masina Hospital and their condition is stable.

Deputy chief fire officer Santosh Sawant confirmed that the fire originated in the kitchen of the fifteenth-floor apartment where the Ansaris reside. It spread quickly to the tenth, sixteenth and nineteenth floors where the windows were open, causing another cylinder blast on the tenth floor and an air-conditioner compressor blast on the nineteenth floor, he noted.

The absence of refuge areas in the building between the eighth and fifteenth floors has emerged as another major area of concern. A notice under the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2023 has been issued to the chairman, said Sawant.

“If the building fails to comply with safety regulations, legal action will be initiated. An offence sheet will be filed, and the building will be evacuated. Electricity and water supply will also be disconnected,” he noted.

The BMC is also probing violations of building safety codes in Ansari Heights.

Meanwhile, the nearly 500 residents of the building spent the second day without electricity on Thursday. Some families have relocated to their relatives’ houses, but are keen to return home and restart their lives.

Ashfaq Dorajiwallah, who lives on the 21st floor, said, “I have moved to my relative’s home near JJ Hospital as there is no power in our building. I will be visiting there soon to assess the situation.”