Mumbai fire: 6 dead, 24 injured in Tardeo’s Kamala building blaze; BMC orders enquiry

Three of the deceased — Hitesh Mistry, his sister, Moushmi and mother Meena Mistry — were residents of flat 1904, which is suspected to be the flat where the fire broke out. It was completely gutted in the blaze

Mumbai: A level three (major) blaze in a 20-storey building in Tardeo, Mumbai Central, early Saturday morning, left six persons dead and 24 persons injured, including eight who are in a critical condition, even as 13 fire tenders and seven water tankers of the Mumbai fire brigade took five hours to douse the fire that broke out and was contained to the 19th floor of Sachinam Heights (also called Kamala building), built as part of a redevelopment project eight years ago.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths and announced an ex-gratia amount of ₹2 lakh to the families of the deceased and ₹50,000 to those injured (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

Three of the deceased — Hitesh Mistry, his sister, Moushmi and mother Meena Mistry — were residents of flat 1904, which is suspected to be the flat where the fire broke out. It was completely gutted in the blaze. Among the others who lost their life in the tragic incident included 75-year-old Manjuben Kantharia, who was a resident of the 19th floor, and Purushottam Chopdekar, a resident of the 16th floor. One of the deceased is yet to be identified as the body was charred beyond recognition. The civic body has conducted a DNA test to ascertain the identity of the person.

The city’s chief fire officer Hemant Parab said that the building’s fire safety system, including its sprinkler system and fire alarms, was not functioning and the fire department is investigating the cause of the fire.

Municipal Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Iqbal Singh Chahal on Saturday ordered an enquiry and directed the civic administration to submit its report within 15 days.

This is the fourth such incident of such magnitude in a Mumbai high-rise in as many months, prompting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to direct the chief electrical inspector to carry out an electrical audit of all high-rise buildings with a height of 15 m and above.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths and announced an ex-gratia amount of ₹2 lakh to the families of the deceased and ₹50,000 to those injured. Mumbai suburban guardian minister Aaditya Thackeray, who visited the tragedy site on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by the Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar, announced an ex-gratia amount of ₹5 lakh for the families of the deceased.

Most of the 400 residents in the building were able to rush out soon after the fire broke out, even as thick smoke filled the passageways. The smoke was able to descend rapidly due to a duct that ran down the building and opened on to each floor. In many floors, the opening was not properly sealed.

At least 30 people rescued by the fire department were rushed to different hospitals, including the nearest, Bhatia hospital, as well as other private hospitals including Wockhardt, Sir HN Reliance Foundation hospital and Masina hospital. The seriously injured were also brought to civic-run BYL Nair and Kasturba hospitals.

While 17 people were discharged after treatment, at least eight persons are critically injured. The Kantharia family suspected that the unidentified deceased person could be their son, Kirit.

Kamlakar Dalvi (64) had woken up to fill water, which is released by the municipal body between 7 and 8 am every day, when he first heard the screams. When he opened the door of his fourth floor flat, he saw the passageway filled with thick smoke emerging from the duct door. Rousing his family he rushed out along with other neighbours towards the ground floor.

At 7.26 am, the Mumbai Fire Brigade’s control room received a frantic call: a massive fire had broken out on the 19th floor of a high-rise in Tardeo, located in the cramped lanes of Nana Chowk in Mumbai Central area. By 7.42 am, the blaze was declared a Level 3 fire and 13 fire engines as well as seven water tankers from 12 stations — the nearest a few minutes away — rushed to the spot.

The firemen had to enter the building wearing breathing equipment in order to douse the fire. To start with, the fire blazed on the 19th floor of the 20-storey building. The skyline surrounding the building is a warren of wires and accessing the window of the flat where the fire blazed would have been difficult.

The building itself was located inside a lane whose width was only enough for one fire engine to enter at a time.

“The morning water comes between 7-8 am regularly and I was going to check the water valve when I saw smoke and heard screams from our neighbours as well. We alerted the remaining flats in our floor and managed to get out of the building. As the fire alarms were not working people didn’t get any warning sign and people had to literally rush out from their bed,” said Dalvi, who is also a member of the managing committee of the building.

Fire system non-functional

CFO Hemant Parab said the building’s firefighting system was defunct.

“The fire-fighting system inside the building was defunct. The sprinklers were not working and the extinguishers were outdated as well,” he said.

According to Parab, the fire could have either originated inside a duct that ran through the length of the building or inside flat number 1904 which was gutted. The cause of the fire is under investigation, he said. However, the duct, which was filled with wiring and cables, aided in the spread of the fire. The duct opened onto each floor, but guidelines state that the shaft doors should be sealed or locked. Not all were and the duct became a conduit for the fire and the smoke to spread rapidly from the top floors down to the ones below.

“All the electric cable lines that ran through the duct were burnt completely, therefore the corridors and staircases got covered with thick smoke and rescue operation became difficult for us,” Parab said.

The MFB said that most of the deceased and injured were residents between the 20th and 16th floors of the building.

The fire brigade will send a notice to the building (owners or occupiers/or the residents’ managing committee) under the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act 2006, for flouting fire safety rules. According to the provision of this act, it is the responsibility of owner or occupier to maintain the inbuilt fire fighting system in good working condition at all times and a certificate in Form B issued by Government Approved Licensed Agency needs to be submitted twice in the year, which is the fire safety audit report of the building. The fire brigade said that the building had not submitted its bi-annual fire safety audit reports.

Kamala building was a redeveloped apartment complex that was readied in 2013, and many of its residents had lived in slums located on the same plot. They began moving into the building in 2016. The last fire drill conducted in the building was four years ago. The building has 135 flats with eight on each floor; the carpet area of the flats range from 225 to 315 square feet.

Nanda Chavan, a resident of the fourth floor said the instructions imparted during the mock fire drill helped her maintain composure during Saturday’s incident.

“We followed our training during the mock drills and refrained from using elevators and chose to use staircases instead,” Chavan, whose relatives lived in the 13th floor and are in a critical condition, said.

“In the morning, we heard screams of residents living in Kamala building. We saw smoke coming out from the top floors and many of our residents started to throw water from their windows as well,” said Kamal Shah, a resident of the neighbouring Matru Mandir Society.

Residents of Matru Mandir arranged for food and water, and the community hall of this building became a triage area for those evacuated, who were given basic medical aid.

“I was washing the cars in my building when I saw flames coming out. I rushed out and switched off the valve of the gas line to prevent any further damage,” said Chandan Singh, a society caretaker.

BMC to conduct audit

Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Saturday ordered an enquiry into the fire incident, and has directed the civic administration to submit the report in 15 days. The enquiry will be headed by the deputy municipal commissioner in-charge of zone 2, and the committee will consist of the assistant commissioner (ward officer) of the D ward, deputy chief engineer of the building proposals department, chief engineer of the mechanical and electrical department, and an officer from the Mumbai fire brigade.

The enquiry will look into three aspects: cause of fire in consultation with Chief Fire Officer, reasons for the spread of the fire, illegal addition / alteration in the building beyond approved plans, if any.

BMC also informed the office of chief electrical inspector to carry out the electrical audit of all the high rise buildings that have a height 15 m and above. Additional municipal commissioner Ashwini Bhide met CFO to conduct periodical electrical audit of residential buildings to prevent incidents of fire due to short circuits, a BMC statement stated.

Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis tweeted his condolence on Saturday morning and said, “ Shocked & anguished to know nearby hospitals refused admissions to injured, which resulted into more deaths.”

This prompted a statement from Dr Satyadeo Malik, chief executive officer, Bhatia Hospital (which is closest to Kamala building) later in the evening in which he stated, “All the patients were immediately attended, and all required treatment was provided.”

“Twenty patients from the Kamla building fire incident were brought at Bhatia Hospital Tardeo today. The Immediate and timely intervention from the RMOs of Bhatia Hospital helped to save lives. Five of them were treated in casualty and allowed to go home. One was brought dead. Two patients with serious burn injuries were transferred to Kasturba and Masina hospital. Twelve patients were admitted, six of them are critical and kept under constant observation in the ICU. The other 6 patients admitted in the ward are stable. The patients are being treated for excess smoke inhalation and breathing difficulty,” he said.