Mumbai: Lives could have been saved at Sunrise Hospital, call came late; shows Fire Brigade report

Fire engines and firefighters at Dreams the Mall in Bhandup last week. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

The fire brigade's report into the March 25 fire at Sunrise Hospital in Dreams Mall in Bhandup has observed that the cause of the fire was an electric short circuit that started in a store selling electrical equipment on the upper ground floor. The report said the fire started around 11.15 pm, but the fire brigade was called only at 11.57 pm.

The report also pointed out illegal addition in the mall. It says firefighting equipment, alarms, sprinklers in the mall were not operating either.

Meanwhile, the police has arrested the CEO of Privilege Healthcare Company and the owner of Pona Corporation, which submitted a fake fire audit report with the fire brigade, on Thursday.

Sunrise Hospital said in a statement, "In the fire report it is amply clear that mall administrator's negligence led to the fire but the police have registered an FIR against the hospital! Why? Will doctors and frontliners ever cease to be soft targets in this country?"

- Inputs by Anurag Kamble