At least six persons died and 15 were injured after a fire broke out in a high-rise building in Mumbai on Saturday morning.
The 18th floor of the 20-storey Kamala Building in the city’s Tardeo area was burned in the incident. The Mumbai Fire Brigade declared it a level three fire at 7.42 am.
A level three fire is considered a major emergency call, in which the chief fire officer is put in command of the team to manage the situation.
Twenty-one fire tenders were called into operation to douse the blaze, Deputy Commissioner of Police Saurabh Tripathi said.
Video footage from the site showed massive plumes of smoke emanating from the building.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that an investigation will be carried out into the fire. “Our guardian minister of Mumbai Suburban Aaditya Thackeray and Mumbai City guardian minister Aslam Shaikh will look into it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Thackeray said that the state government will give an ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh to the dead persons’ families.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to the families of those who died, and Rs 50,000 to the injured persons.
Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Saturday visited the site of the fire and the Bhatia Hospital, where some injured persons were reportedly taken, ANI reported. She said that the fire is now under control, but there is a huge amount of smoke. “All people have been rescued,” she added.
The mayor said that six senior citizens needed oxygen support, and have been admitted to hospital.
Pednekar alleged the Reliance and Wockhardt hospitals refused to admit injured persons when they were taken there, NDTV reported. She said that municipal authorities will carry out an inquiry into the matter.
Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said that he was “shocked and anguished” after hearing reports of a hospital refusing to admit injured persons. “If it is true then, the civic body and state administration should fix the responsibility for these deaths and take action against those responsible,” he said.
However, Thackeray said that both hospitals told him that they had admitted and treated some of the injured persons.
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