'I Called Fire Brigade At 3.06 AM But No Response': Survivor Recounts Mumbai Building Fire Horror

An eyewitness of the deadly fire at a residential building in Mumbai’s Goregaon area in the early hours of Friday recalled the horrific tragedy that claimed eight lives, including two minors while accusing the local fire brigade officials of not responding swiftly to his call placed at 3.06 am. He claimed that more lives could have been saved if the help would have reached on time.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the blaze started around 3 am at a seven-storey Jay Bhavani SRA building near Azad Maidan at Unnat Nagar in Goregaon West that also left over 40 people injured.

While narrating the incident, news agency ANI quoted a survivor, Manish Chaturvedi, as claiming that he noticed the fire at 2.45 am when he was sleeping and placed a call to the fire department at 3.06 am but didn’t receive any response from them.

Chaturvedi said the incident occurred between 2.30 am-3:00 am when he sensed a burning smell while sleeping. “I woke up and first searched my room. I then woke my brother up. We then saw the smoke rising. We then called up the fire brigade. I was able to place a call at 3.06 am but there was no response from the other side,” he claimed, adding, “I think had they been alert the loss would not have been this much. Police did arrive on time. The situation was very heart-rending.”

Several residents were rescued from the terrace and various floors of the building. The injured were rushed to private hospitals in Goregaon, including HBT Trauma Centre and Cooper Hospital.

Out of eight deceased, six deaths were reported at the HBT Trauma Centre, one person died at the Cooper Hospital while another victim, whose identity could not be verified at the time, died in the fire.

It took around four hours and more than eight fire engines and other firefighting equipment for the fire brigade to extinguish the blaze, a fire official said.

Ravindra Ambulgekar, chief fire officer of the Mumbai Fire Brigade, told news agency PTI that the building was old and no firefighting system was available there. According to Sudhakar Pujarey, an officer bearer of the housing society, they have two wings a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) building and a saleable portion (sold in the open market). The fire erupted in the SRA building, he said.

BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said not a single death was due to burns. All the deaths occurred due to suffocation, he told media persons. Before firefighters arrived at the scene, the blaze had spread across the ground floor and started rising. It completely gutted the old clothes, shops, and two-wheelers on the ground floor, said fire officials.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde condoled the loss of life in the fire and announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of each of the deceased. The CM said that those injured in the fire would be treated at government expense.