Mumbai: 40 hours later, fire at Bhandup mall housing hospital doused

Close to 40 hours after a fire broke out on Thursday night at Dreams Mall in Bhandup, killing nine Covid-19 patients admitted in Sunrise Hospital inside the building, it was extinguished around 3

Close to 40 hours after a fire broke out on Thursday night at Dreams Mall in Bhandup, killing nine Covid-19 patients admitted in Sunrise Hospital inside the building, it was extinguished around 3.30pm on Saturday. According to the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB), the operations went for as long as there were a lot of shops inside the mall delaying cooling operations.

On Thursday night around 11.45pm, a level-four fire was reported at the ground-plus-three Dreams Mall in which nine patients lost their lives at Sunrise Hospital on the third floor of the mall. (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

According to MFB officials, several retail shops inside the malls had goods stored, affecting firefighting operations. There were several small offices of companies in the service sector.

A MFB official said, “Although firefighting went on for 40 hours, operations were easier when compared to the blaze at City Centre Mall last year. Then, the operations went on for 56 hours where mobile phones and batteries led to constant fires at isolated spots.”

The MFB official added, “In case of Dreams Mall, the fire was covered from all sides by Friday night, but still we had smoke and due to which we were undertaking cooling operations since Friday night. The cooling operations will still be undergoing, and we will also start investigations simultaneously.” The MFB also maintained that the firefighting equipment inside the mall were not functional. The MFB had also issued a notice to the mall for non-compliance of fire safety violations in November 2020.

On Thursday night around 11.45pm, a level-four fire was reported at the ground-plus-three Dreams Mall in which nine patients lost their lives at Sunrise Hospital on the third floor of the mall. Six out of the nine patients were on ventilator and they lost their lives during the transit. Overall, 78 patients were at the hospital at the time of the incident. Two patients had already lost their lives before the fire.

Municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal late on Friday ordered an inquiry into the incident, to be conducted by the disaster management cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The scope of the Inquiry will be to ascertain the cause of the fire jointly with the fire brigade, fix responsibility on the official in case of illegality found in the structure, followed by investigating whether all permissions were in place. Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar, while speaking to reporters on Saturday, said, “An inquiry has been ordered into the unfortunate incident. The report is expected to be out in the next 15 days, and until that the Mumbai Police has assured appropriate action.”

The Sunrise Hospital in a statement on Saturday said, “The Dreams Mall has been managed by court appointed administrator since 2018 by as per National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) court order. The mall was under NCLT and the court appointed administrator was ordered to look after the operations. All the operations at the mall and the licenses of the mall are the responsibility of the court appointed administrator. All the hospital permissions and licenses were taken and are in order and have nothing to do with the mall compliances. We wish to clarify that dreams mall is being run by mall administrator and the original owners of the mall Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan were nowhere involved in the management of this mall since 2018.”

Amid the firefighting operations, shop owners on Saturday protested outside the Dreams Mall demanding compensation from the authorities for the damage. Imtiaz Nakhwa, a shopkeeper, said, “The shopkeepers are demanding compensation for the damage caused to our property. The authorities have given compensation for the Covid-19 patients, but nothing for the shop owners.”

Meanwhile, on the other hand, several bank account holders of Indian Overseas Bank located inside the mall are in distress due to the fire. Ajay Tembhekar, regional manager of Indian Overseas Bank, said, “The fire has not impacted the bank or the lockers inside the bank’s branch. We would like to ensure our customers that they will be able to access their lockers and bank accounts once we are able to operate the branch in the coming two to three days.”