Yesterday was like any other day for 8-year-old Haziqa Faisan Ansari, as she walked home from her tuition class last morning, never suspecting she'd be fighting for her life just hours later, all because of a frying pan
(Inset) Haziqa Ansari (8) was just a few steps away from her house when the pan fell on her head from the building in Madanpura
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Yesterday was like any other day for 8-year-old Haziqa Faisan Ansari, as she walked home from her tuition class last morning, never suspecting she'd be fighting for her life just hours later, all because of a frying pan. She was barely a few steps from her house when a pan came crashing down on her from a 22-storey building, cracking her head and landing her in the trauma ward.
Haziqa (8) walks back from her tuition class, just seconds away from home
On most days, the Std II student would walk home with her mother, but yesterday, she was on her own. Around 11 am, Haziqa was walking past the 22-storey Danish Villa building on Ghelabai street, Madanpura. Just as she was about to cross to her house on the other side, a frying pan came hurtling down from the building, smashing straight into her head. The impact was so severe that it cracked her head, leading to severe brain injury.
Just as she is about to cross the road to her house, a frying pan comes crashing down on her head from a 22-storey building
A crowd gathered around her and local residents decided to take her to hospital. It was this point that her father, Faisan Ansari, spotted her. "I got out of the house and saw a crowd gathered there. Then I saw a stranger running on the road, carrying a child covered in blood. When I looked carefully, I saw that the child was my Haziqa," he recalled.
Haziqa collapses in a pool of blood. Her father spots her bloody body being carried away and rushes to her side
Condition is serious
Her father rushed her to Nair Hospital, where she was placed on ventilator support. From the extent of her injuries, doctors estimate that the pan may have fallen from a height of at least 100 feet (about 10 storeys). "Her condition is very serious and she has been kept on ventilator support. We are constantly talking to the parents and keeping them informed of her prognosis," said Dr Smita Patil, assistant medical officer, Nair Hospital.
He rushes her to hospital, where she is placed on ventilator support, fighting for her life. Illustration/Ravi Jadhav
Hospital dean, Dr Ramesh, cautioned that the child's condition was bleak. "She is in a questionable condition and chances of improvement are less. She has severe head injury and has also been diagnosed with trauma in her stomach. We are doing our best."
Not the first time
A resident of the building revealed that this is not an isolated incident, and objects are frequently thrown from the building, causing damage to property as well. "Earlier, in a similar incident, a two-wheeler that was parked under the building was damaged when a juice bottle fell on it. We had made complaints regarding this issue in past also," said Mehmood Parvez, a retired school principal who lives in Danish Villa. "The police are inspecting all the flats on this road. They are also checking our kitchens and the food items we cooked," he added.
FIR registered
The Nagpada police registered an FIR against unidentified persons under Section 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety) of the IPC, confirmed Senior PI Sanjay Baswat. Forensic experts conducted several examinations of the buildings and flats. As per the initial analysis, the cops suspect that the pan may have fallen while someone was trying to throw food out of the window.
"There are grills outside the windows, but the pan fell through the slits. There are chances that someone was trying to throw food from the pan, but it slipped from their hand and fell from the window. But we are not sure if that is what actually happened," said an officer at the site.