20221204 Mumbai: Malad resident escapes fire, suffers fractures due to fall
India Dec 04 2022 “Apartment houses” “Building”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 1 to 9
Mumbai: Malad resident escapes fire, suffers fractures due to fall
Updated: 2022-12-04
MUMBAI: A ‘havan’ conducted in a flat might have led to a blaze at a Malad building on Saturday morning, said fire officials.
The fire broke out around 11am in a third-floor flat of the 21-storey Marina Enclave at Jankalyan Nagar. While the flat owner, Roop Bhatia (43), escaped the fire, she fell off a ladder during her rescue and suffered multiple frontal cranial fractures. The ladder was kept near the parapet between the second and third floors of the building. Bhatia had to be rushed to a nearby hospital.
Fire brigade officials said she fell off the ladder while being rescued by residents before the fire brigade reached the spot. She was hanging on to her flat’s window grille.
Fire officer Purushottam Sandikar said, “The fire may have been caused due to a ‘havan’ that the house owner conducted in her flat.”
While Bhatia’s flat was fully gutted, others above it too suffered some damage due to the fire and water used in the extinguishing process. The Level-1 fire was doused by 11.15am.
Office bearers of Marina Enclave AB Cooperative Housing Society told TOI the society had lodged complaints in the past with the fire department and the police about ‘havan’ being conducted frequently in the flat.
“We had lodged official complaints about the house owner conducting ‘havan’ at her home and the risk involved for residents. We had sought the intervention of the police and fire department too. We also asked the house owner to desist from keeping the ‘havan’ on the staircase,” said Anita Chinnari, secretary of Marina Enclave Society, who was first informed of the fire by the building’s security. Chinnari and the committee members soon got into action and ensured the evacuation of the building’s residents.
“Quick action taken by the secretary of the society, who coordinated and helped in evacuation of the residents, saved the day. Fortunately, my flat did not suffer any damage, despite it being under the flat that was gutted in the fire,” said Larson Fernandes, owner of a flat on the second floor.
A doctor from Yashasvi Hospital in Malad, where Bhatia was admitted, said she was brought in a conscious state. “A CT scan has revealed that she suffered frontal cranial comminuted fracture in the skull and a hairline fracture in the right elbow due to the fall. The neighbours, who got her here, said she fell from the second or third floor during rescue,” said the doctor, adding there were no fire-related injuries or burns.
The doctor said Bhatia did not seem to have suffered any internal injury to the brain so far but there is scalp haemotoma-external injury to the tissues and muscle.
Bhatia took discharge in the evening against medical advice.
Web Source: The Times of India