Three injured in Borivali fire shifted out of Shatabdi hospital

A member from the society office said that while the firefighting operations ended on Tuesday morning, the work of restoring electricity and gas lines was still under way. Wings G and F were without electricity on Tuesday afternoon

MUMBAI: A day after the fire at Veena Santoor CHS in Borivali killed two members of a family, the three others who sustained severe burn injuries were shifted out from Kandivali’s Shatabdi Hospital.

A day after fire killed 2 at Veena Santoor building, repair works ongoing. Navratri event was also cancelled at Borivali. (Vijay Bat)

Lakshmi Bura (40) and Rajeshwari Bhartare (24) were shifted to Kasturba Hospital on Tuesday morning, while Ranjan Shah (76) was shifted to a private facility after taking DAMA (Discharge Against Medical Advice) from Shatabdi Hospital, said the BMC’s disaster management department.

“We have received two patients: one has 60 percent burns and the other 80 percent,” said Dr Chandrakant Pawar, medical superintendent of Kasturba Hospital. “Their condition is still critical. We have a dedicated burns ward where they are being treated.”

The building’s F wing, where the fire broke out, is part of a nine-building complex comprising two housing societies. The ground-plus-eight-storey buildings have 32 flats in each wing, according to the society office.

A member from the society office said that while the firefighting operations ended on Tuesday morning, the work of restoring electricity and gas lines was still under way. Wings G and F were without electricity on Tuesday afternoon.

“Adani Electricity officials are on the job of restoring the electricity while the restoration of piped gas is being carried out by Mahanagar Gas Limited. The fire brigade and police finished their operations in the morning,” said the society office member, adding that the Navarati celebration in the building was cancelled after the fire.

The funeral of Glory Valthaty (43), sister of former IPL cricketer Paul Valthaty, and her six-year-old son Joshua was held on Tuesday afternoon. The two died after the deadly blaze spread from a first-floor flat to the fourth floor.

Fire officials on Monday had said that the first-floor kitchen was in flames when they arrived. “The first-floor residents had forgotten to shut the door and the smoke spread in the staircase and started moving rapidly upwards,” said an official. “The foam furniture, electric wiring and other inflammable items in the house caught fire, which produced soot and caused suffocation and choking.”

P R Parulekar, a senior fire official on Monday had said that prima facie, there were three reasons for the fire. “One reason could be that the lady on the first floor, who had gone to fetch her kid from school, left something on the gas,” he said. “However, she has refuted this. Secondly, there could be a gas leakage, and lastly there was a wooden pooja mandir, which could have caught fire. We are still investigating.”

Parulekar and chief fire officer Ravindra Ambulgekar were unavailable for comment on Tuesday.