Morning after Mother’s Day bash, gas leak wreaks havoc on Khar family

The victims’ house at Madhala Pada on Monday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Hours after they celebrated Mother's Day, six members of a family landed up in the hospital with severe burn injuries after a fire broke out in their Khar West residence due to a gas leak on Monday morning. The adults are recuperating at the Bhabha Hospital ICU but two children, who sustained over 50 per cent burns, are being treated at Kasturba hospital. The matriarch of the family, Sakubai Shivbabu Jaiswal, 65; her son Sunil, 29; daughter-in-law Priyanka Jaiswal, 26; grandson Prathamesh Jaiswal, 6; granddaughter Viyeshka Vikas Chavan, 7; and a relative Nikita Suresh Mandalik, 26, were asleep inside the house - which is situated in a chawl at Madhala Pada on Govind Patil Marg - when the blaze broke out.

Prathamesh, Priyanka, Sunil and Nikita

The Mumbai Fire Brigade was alerted about the gas leak via a call around 8.30 am. But by the time they arrived, neighbours had already rescued the family and rushed them to the hospital. A relative said, "On Sunday, we celebrate Mother's Day by cutting a cake and throwing a small party till late into the night after which Viyeshka, the child of Sakubai's daughter Anita, insisted on staying back. So she and Nikita remained while the rest of us left. In the morning, we got a call from neighbours about the fire. By the time we reached, the neighbours had taken them to the hospital. Sunil was taken to Holy Family Hospital in Bandra and the others were brought to Bhabha hospital. We later decided to shift Sunil to the latter."

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Sunil, a DJ by profession, has sustained more than 50 per cent burn injuries. Sakubai and Nikita, who were more exposed to the flames, are on ventilator support. "When we reached the spot, the fire was already doused by the neighbours and people inside the one-room house were shifted to the hospital. The pipe of the cylinder ruptured and the gas leaked from it," said a fire brigade official. Sanjay Manjrekar, chief of the Fire Brigade, said, "The incident was due to a flash fire caused by a gas leak. The gas must have accumulated in a room and was triggered by some flame. It occurred within a few seconds and inside one room. There was no damage to walls or doors."