Auto with 9 passengers catches fire at Kurla in Mumbai

The auto rickshaw that caught fire after a CNG leak at Govandi last night. Pics/ Pradeep Dhivar

An autorickshaw that was ferrying nine people to Kurla terminus caught fire last night. Nine people have been seriously injured in the incident and have been admitted to Sion hospital. The police are awaiting the report from the fire brigade to take appropriate action.

Nine people - Sajida Qureshi; her two-month-old daughter; Tuba Qureshi, 30, Khatija Qureshi, (39), along with her kids Sadaf, (10), Apsa (5) and Mohmmad Rehan (2); Firdous Qureshi (30) and Farhana Qureshi (17), a resident of Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, were travelling to Kurla Terminus to board a train to Gulbarg, Karnataka, to attend Khatija's sister's wedding.

There was an Innova car to drop off the rest of the family but as there was no place left in it, a neighbour, Shariff Abdul Zabar Shaikh (58), was requested to drop them off in his auto.

While driving to the terminus around 9.15 pm, when the auto was at Ahilyabai Holkar Road, it suddenly caught fire. Shaikh jumped out of the auto and shouted to the passengers to jump too. But, because there were so many people in it, they could not exit quickly and passers-by had to help pull them out.

The nine passengers were immediately taken to Shatabdi Hospital and from there they were shifted to Sion hospital because of their serious injuries. Shaikh's injuries were minor.

The driver of the auto rickshaw, Sharif Abdul Jabbar Shaikh, who suffered minor injuries in the fire

Sub-inspector Sachin Sanap of Shivaji Nagar police station told mid-day, "We have noted down the incident in out book, but will decide on registering a complaint only after getting a report from the fire brigade."

Taxi driver Shaikh said, "I don't own the autorickshaw, I only drive it. I don't know what went wrong, but when I saw that there was a fire, I jumped out and told the passengers to jump too, but they couldn't."