It was a massive evacuation operation at the Make In India event held at Girgaum Chowpatty, Mumbai on Sunday night, following the huge fire that broke out on the stage. While the cops and firemen had a mammoth task in hand to ensure the safety of everyone present, they also had a helping hand from a few brave hearts and Vivek Oberoi was one of them.
When the fire broke out, Vivek, who was also hosting the event, was inside his vanity van, which was parked a few feet away from stage. Someone present on location said, “After Vivek was done hosting one portion of the programme, he invited two more actors on the stage to take over the hosting duties. He had an hour-long break, so he went back to his van to rehearse for his next act. A lavani act was going on at that time and Aditi Rao Hydari was to perform next, when suddenly a loud explosive noise came from under the stage. Thankfully, the music was turned off immediately and the dancers were asked to vacate the stage.”
The cops sprang into action almost instantly and got busy helping everyone leave. Along with the other celebrities present, Vivek too was asked to leave, but the actor refused to do so. When we spoke to him, he said, “I stepped out of my vanity and saw everyone running around. How could I just leave like that There were about a 100 dancers backstage waiting to be evacuated.” He didn’t allow the dancers to enter the make shift tents to collect their belongings. “If the tent caught fire, the situation would worsen. I told all of them to not enter the tent as it could be dangerous,” Vivek added. The actor was mighty impressed with the way the officials went about the evacuation operation. He said, “The police officers and fire brigade team ensured they first helped the ladies and the kids to a safe exit. Even our chief minister was there till the very end, monitoring everything.”
Later Vivek’s vanity van wouldn’t start and it had to be pushed away. The actor helped the police officers to push it to a safer area. By the time he could leave the venue, it was 1.30 am. “Hats off to the entire team who ensured that no one got hurt,” he added.
