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1 killed, 43 rescued in fire in Pune’s Sadashiv Peth area
According to the fire brigade, the building was leased by Nilay Mehta, who operated the Nilay Educational Institute on the premises
A 45-year-old caretaker died and 40 female students and three others were evacuated after a major fire erupted at an educational institute in Sadashiv Peth area on Friday morning.
The deceased has been identified as Rahul Kulkarni, whose body was sent to Sassoon General Hospital for post-mortem, said officials.
The fire brigade received a distress call at around 1:23 am mentioning that a major fire had erupted at the ground floor of a five-storied building named Lakshmi Krupa. Responding quickly, a fire vehicle, a rescue van and a tanker from Erandawane fire station rushed to the spot.
According to fire brigade officers, during the rescue operation, they found Kulkarni in an unconscious state in one of the inside rooms located on the first floor. He was declared dead later at the hospital.
During the rescue operation, the fire brigade also rescued a family including a man, his wife and their daughter. They were working at that educational institute in the sanitation department.
According to the fire brigade, the building was leased by Nilay Mehta, who operated the Nilay Educational Institute on the premises.
The ground floor was used for the library, and study rooms, the first floor was used for the computer room, study room and the third floor was used for study room, on the fourth floor there were arrangements of residence for the girl students and on the fifth-floor arrangement of kitchen, storage rooms were made.
Dipali Bhujbal, senior police inspector at Vishram Baug police station, said, “One person has died in the incident and prima facie it seems that he died due to suffocation due to smoke.”
Bhujabl said, the police are waiting for the report from the fire brigade, once the report comes, they will take necessary legal actions accordingly.
