6 injured, including a minor girl in blaze at Ghansoli’s residential building in Maharashtra

Navi Mumbai: Six persons, including a minor girl, sustained minor burn injuries after major fire breakout at a 4-storeyed Kuber CHS in Sector 21, Ghansoli, on Saturday around 8 pm.

The injured, identified as Aisha Sayyed, 10, the daughter of 203 flat owner Parveen Sayyad, was admitted to NMMC Hospital, Vashi. The other injured are tenants identified as Vishal Jagtap, 32, and his spouse Ankita, 29, another couple, Avinash Yashwantrao, 39, and Aavishka, 38, and a housemaid, Kaushalya Pimpale, 55. All of them sustained minor burn injuries to their limbs, especially to their palms and soles, as they hurriedly escaped using the staircase. The Yashwantrao couple also suffered from mild suffocation due to fire smoke filling the building and are admitted to Indravati Hospital in Airoli, while the Jagtap couple and housemaid Pimpale are admitted to Basil Hospital in Koparkhairane, informed Amar Gaikwad, fire officer at Koparkhairane.

Gaikwad said, "Upon receiving the fire call at 8.15 pm, our firefighters with a fire engine reached the building at 8.21 pm. The fire started at an apartment on the second floor around 8 pm and quickly spread to the two apartments on the third and fourth floors. Three apartments on the second, third and fourth floors were completely charred, while the doors of the adjacent flats on three floors were damaged in the fire as some of the flat owners and tenants panicked and locked themselves inside the flat. The firefighters had to break open five flats locked from inside to rescue the family members. As the fire was raging, the firefighters and fire tenders were summoned from Airoli, Vashi and Rabale MIDC fire stations. As many as 15 residents trapped in the building filled with fire smoke were rescued by the firemen. The fire was extinguished after two hours of firefighting operation around 10.30 pm, followed by cooling operation for 30 minutes. Prima facie, the cause of fire breakout seems to be due to short circuit in the second-floor flat, which is yet to be ascertained. NMMC chief fire officer on Sunday visited the injured patients at the three hospitals, and their condition was stable, as informed by the doctors."