Fire in Rajkot’s Atlantis building kills 3, injures 1; short circuit suspected

The fire started around 10 am and spread to the fifth floor, triggering panic among the residents, said a police officer

"Ahmedabad: Three people were killed and one was injured on Friday after a fire broke out on the sixth floor of the Atlantis residential apartment building in Gujarat’s Rajkot area, police said.

Police said that the cause of the fire is still under investigation, with the preliminary indication being a possible short circuit during renovation work in the apartment’s sixth-floor lobby (Rajkot Municipal Corporation)

“Three persons have died and one is injured. He is receiving treated in a hospital. None of them are residents. They were all visitors,” a police officer said.

The fire started on sixth floor around 10 am and spread to the fifth floor, triggering panic among the residents, said a police officer, adding emergency services, including the police, fire department, and ambulances, were pressed into the rescue operation at the high-end residential apartment on the 150 Feet Ring Road in Rajkot.

More than 40 people were initially feared trapped inside the building. “At least five of them, including a woman with her infant, were brought down using the fire brigade’s hydraulic crane. Among those rescued was the owner of Radhika Jewelers and his family,” an officialssaid.

“One of the deceased has been identified as Ajay Makwana, who worked as a delivery boy for Swiggy and had come to deliver a parcel on the eighth floor. Another deceased has been identified as Kalpesh Leuva, who worked with Blinkit and had come to the building for delivery work on the tenth floor. He had come with his cousin Mayur Leuva, who also died in the blaze,” Jagdish Bangarwa, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Rajkot, city, said.

The injured individual has been identified as Kavitaben Darji, aged 15, who had come to the building to work as household help, he added.

Parthrajsinh Gohil, DCP crime, Rajkot, said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, with the preliminary indication being a possible short circuit during renovation work in the apartment’s sixth-floor lobby.

The Atlantis building reportedly houses well-known jewellers, doctors, and builders.

Darshita Shah, MLA of Rajkot West, said that the fire in the Atlantis building was caused by a short circuit. "The entire fire brigade team was involved in firefighting efforts and that those injured were quickly shifted to the government hospital for treatment," she added.