Santacruz hotel fire: Victims’ families say they want legal action taken against the airline, hotel

The families had been preparing for the wedding of the couple when the tragedy struck

After the deadly fire that killed three IndiGo passengers including an engaged couple at Hotel Galaxy in Santacruz on Sunday, the family of the deceased groom is contemplating legal action against both establishments. Two other passengers of the airline, kin of the bride, escaped. Four other persons, including a hotel employee were rescued.

We will go back to our village, Rampur for the last rites, where it will be decided who will pursue the legal battle. We can’t let both Indigo and the hotel get away with this. Both are at fault,” said 25-year-old Nikunj, the brother of Kishan Halai, who, along with his fiancée Rupal Kanji Vekaria, died in the fire.

Twenty eight-year-old Kishan and his family of four had returned to India in late July from Nairobi, the first time in years after they left their village Rampur, in Kutch, Gujarat, in 2011.

The fire spread from one floor to another in Hotel Galaxy

It was a happy occasion as there were two weddings in the family. One had taken place on July 28 when Nikunj married his long-time girlfriend. The other was the arranged marriage of Kishan and Rupal, scheduled for February next year. Both the bride and groom’s families have roots in the same village in Kutch. Rupal’s family had also settled in Nairobi about 30 years ago.

The other two survivors of the tragedy, Manjula Vekaria and her 19-year-old daughter, Alpa, are Rupal’s mother and sister. “After we got married here, my wife and I left for Uganda, where I work in a hotel, and my parents left for Nairobi,” he said.

Kishan used to work in a construction company, as does his father. Rupal worked for a telecom company. The couple, along with Rupal’s mother and sister, had chosen to stay back to shop for their wedding.

Why they stayed

The four were on their back to Nairobi from Ahmedabad and had a connecting IndiGo flight from Mumbai, which was delayed. They were put up at Hotel Galaxy by IndiGo on Saturday night and had to leave by 9 pm on Sunday.

“Our parents and Rupal’s father are here to collect their bodies,” said Nikunj, who met this reporter at Cooper Hospital’s post mortem center where the bodies were taken.

As of the time of the report, the bodies had not been handed over to the family, and they were expected to receive them by late Monday evening. “We’ll then take them to our village for last rites,” Nikunj said. The family is currently staying at the Swaminarayan temple in Vile Parle, whose priest and staff are helping them navigate the process to collect the bodies.

‘No comment’

An IndiGo airline’s press representative confirmed to mid-day that the deceased were its passengers. “That’s the usual hotel where we put up all the passengers,” said the Indigo representative about Hotel Galaxy. When asked how the airline will respond to the Halai family’s intention of taking legal recourse, the representative refused to comment.

The fire brigade found there were no fire safety systems in place at Hotel Galaxy and has decided to issue notices to it and cut its power supply. The managers of the hotel did not respond to calls.

120
Maximum no. of days buildings are given to install fire systems

03
No. of people who died in the fire

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