2 missing in Navi Mumbai fire that gutted 3 factories; 2 injured

A Navi Mumbai fire department official said the fire, which was first reported at 3.17pm, destroyed three factories

NAVI MUMBAI: Two persons are missing after a major fire broke out at Navi Mumbai’s Khairane MIDC on Friday afternoon that gutted three factories. Fire department officers said it took firefighters several hours to control the fire and they will be able to conduct the search operation only on Saturday morning after the flames are doused and the cooling operations are complete.

Three persons who were trapped in the Navi Mumbai fire were rescued but two others were still missing. Firefighters will start searching for them Saturday morning after the site cools down (HT Photo/Bachchan Kumar)

Two women have been admitted to the hospital for smoke inhalation and their condition is stable, an official said.

“We have been informed that three people were rescued while two persons are still missing in the first company which caught fire,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone I, Vivek Pansare said.

The two missing persons have been identified by the police as Nikhil Sanjay Pashilkar, 26 and N S Nair, both resident of Kalyan.

Navi Mumbai: Smoke billows from a fire in a chemical factory in Navi Mumbai on Friday, (PTI)

Navi Mumbai: Smoke billows from a fire in a chemical factory in Navi Mumbai on Friday, (PTI)

Navi Mumbai: Smoke billows from a fire in a chemical factory in Navi Mumbai on Friday, (PTI)

The fire started in West Coast Polychem Pvt Ltd, a chemicals factory, located at plot number 775, TTC MIDC, and later spread to two adjoining industrial units including the rubber reprocessing facility of Hind Elastomers Pvt Ltd at plot number 774, witnesses said.

Once the fire is extinguished, the cooling process will be started after which search operation will be done.

Two women have been admitted to the hospital for smoke inhalation and their condition is stable, a fire officer said.

Officials said the first call about the fire was received by the Rabale MIDC Fire station at around 3.17pm.

Amita Shah, who works in a company four blocks away from the one that caught fire said that the fire tenders took too long to reach.

(HT Photo/Bachchan Kumar)

“I have myself made frantic calls to police and fire brigades. Many others would have done and yet, the tenders reached around an hour late. Many female labourers who were sleeping on the terrace of the West Coast Company after their shift had managed to come down somehow during the fire incident safely. While some seemed suffocated, some were vomiting. They were too traumatised and taken to hospitals,” Shah said.

According to Shah, when the fire started, the adjoining company Hind Elastomers and other companies in the neighbourhood started evacuating their employees, a precaution that saved lives.