70-year-old dies in blaze in high-rise

Mumbai: An 70-year-old woman died and 19 people were injured in a fire that broke out in a high-rise near Mahalaxmi Racecourse at 2.50 am on Sunday. The Fire Brigade rescued more than 50 people who were stranded on the upper floors of the building and brought the blaze under control in nearly three hours.

According to fire officials, the blaze took place on the third floor of the 18-storey Samrat Ashoka building, which belongs to Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), on Keshavrao Khade Marg. The fire possibly started in the electrical wiring inside a duct on the third floor and then spread to the wiring right up till the top floor. The blaze was confined to electric wiring in the electric duct. Due to heavy smoke, nearly 50 to 60 persons were stranded on the upper floors out of which eight were rescued through fire-fighting pumps and four with the help of special appliances. The rest were rescued via the staircase.

“More than 90 residents were stranded in their flats due to the fire and smoke. A rescue operation was launched by the Fire Brigade at 3 am and 50 people from the upper floors were brought down using the staircase. Four others were saved using special devices,” the fire official said.

Those rescued were rushed to a nearby hospital as they had inhaled smoke. Among them, the senior citizen, Laxmibai Koli, died during treatment. Nearly 77 residents were discharged after tre-atment while 19 are still in hospital. Seventeen of the injured are being treated at Nair Hospital and two are undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit at Bhatia Hospital, he added.