20230216 70-year-old woman dies, 20 hurt in Mumbai’s Kurla SRA building fire
India Feb 16 2023 “Apartment houses” “Building”
Dead : dead 1 to 4 Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured more than 10
70-year-old woman dies, 20 hurt in Mumbai’s Kurla SRA building fire
Updated: 2023-02-16
MUMBAI: A 70-year-old woman – Shakuntala Ramani, an asthma patient – died while her husband and their son Pradeep, grandson Vinayak and 17 others were injured and admitted to the hospital following an early morning blaze at an SRA building in Kurla on Wednesday. The Vinobha Bhave Nagar police have registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) in the matter.
Around 6.30am, fire erupted in building number 7, C wing of Kohinoor city in Kurla-west. Four fire engines, three jumbo water tankers, a breathing apparatus van and an ambulance were rushed to the site. The fire brigade teams said people were stranded on various floors of the building while pocket fires were being noticed from the 4th-10th floor of the highrise. The fire was completely extinguished only at 8.42am.
The most affected in the blaze were the Ramani family living on the 12th floor of the building. They had relocated from Ambedkar Nagar in Ghatkopar when those living around Tansa pipeline were removed and came to the building six years ago. Apart from the Ramani family, 17 more people suffered due to smoke inhalation. The Ramani family had the terrace keys, but till the time they could move up into the open space, the senior citizen had lost consciousness, said neighbours.
The deceased’s (Shakuntala) daughter-in-law Pratibha, who completed the legal formalities at the civic-run Rajawadi hospital following her mother-in-law’s demise said by the time they noticed that there was a blaze, smoke had already got logged into most of the areas around their home. Pratibha’s father-in-law Shivram Ramani, 74, was also injured in the incident and is undergoing treatment. Locals said Pratibha’s husband Pradeep did plumbing jobs to earn a living.
“The elderly woman could not bear the smoke and collapsed. Her son also began vomiting owing to the excessive smoke,” said one of the neighbors. The fire brigade officials who had come to the site said prima facie the reason of the blaze was a short circuit. Amit Kurne, who lived on the ninth floor of the building, said that the smoke travelled so rapidly via the duct through all the floors that it became very difficult for them to escape. “We were breathing such heavy smoke but someone managed to rescue us. It is very unfortunate that the Ramani family had the terrace keys and were not able to take shelter up there well on time,” said Kurne.
Police said the building fire system was not working and the residents didn’t have even basic idea of what precautions to take when there is fire in the building.
“The deceased could have easily gone on the terrace which was just one floor above; they even had the keys but she got stuck on the staircase and died,” said Rajeev Chavan, senior inspector.
Web Source: The Times of India