Mumbai: One dead after fire breaks out at Ghatkopar building

The fire broke out in the electric meter of the five-storey structure

One person was killed, and 12 others were hospitalised after a major fire broke out at the five-storey Vishwas building in Ghatkopar East on Saturday afternoon. According to fire officials, thick smoke and the presence of electric cables and other flammable material, made it challenging to carry out the operation.

As per preliminary details, the fire broke out at 2.08 pm. "It was triggered in the electric meter room of the building," fire officials said. According to sources, the building is around 40 years old. Eyewitness Sham Mishra told mid-day that the flames started from the ground floor and reached up to the fifth floor. Most of the people who experienced suffocation and suffered burns were from Parakh Hospital, the hotel, and the coaching class, which were located in the same building.

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Following the blaze, 22 patients from the hospital were evacuated. According to the assistant medical officer of Rajawadi Hospital, two patients from Parakh Hospital, Tukaram Ghag, 40, and Sher Bahadur Parihar, 46, were shifted to Rajawadi Hospital. Six people from the hotel, including Korshi Dedhia, and a 30-year-old unidentified person, were also rushed to the hospital. While the unidentified person is critical, Dedhia was declared dead. Three policemen were taken to the hospital after complaining of suffocation. .

Chief fire officer Sanjay Manjrekar said, "The electric meter room had plastic chairs and other flammable materials, which fuelled the fire," Manjrekar added. The building had no internal fire fighting system.

22
No people evacuated from the hospital