84 individuals were rescued from a fire accident occurred in Bandra MTNL building.

By Abhay Shah, Realty Quarter

On Monday, MTNL was hit by a huge fire that left 84 individuals trapped on the terrace of the 9-storey construction, all were saved by fire departments, an official said.

He said that a fireman, Sagar Salve (25), breathed smoke during the firefighting procedure for which he was admitted to the Bhabha Hospital. He says that the 25-year-old person is stable and his condition is safe.

A search was conducted to find individuals who might have been caught up on the third, fourth, fifth and other floors of the Bandra suburban telephone exchange building.

Fire brigade staff checked these floors with searchlights, other equipment and fire protection suits, the official stated. The official said that for the first time, a newly introduced robot called Robofire was used to control the blaze.

At approximately 3 pm, the fire began at the construction of the MTNL which is also close to a fire brigade centre in the suburban of Bandra. Since it was a working day, many people, mainly staff of the state-run telecom company, were in the building, he said.

When the fire began on the third and fourth floors, panic-struck individuals began to run out of the building.  The official said people in the upper floors ran towards the terrace to save themselves. All 84 individuals were securely evacuated from the terrace, he said.

He added, at least 14 fire engines, newly-introduced RoboFire, an ambulance and aerial ladders and some other firefighting equipment were used to extinguish the flames and rescue people. Because of powerful winds and heavy smoke from the building, staffs of fire brigades were struggling to shoot the flames, and some nearby buildings were also impacted.

People caught up in the terrace screamed and sought help, while they used handkerchiefs to prevent smoke from inhaling.

The cause of the fire has still not been identified.

“We went down from the fifth floor via the elevator. We have seen fire brigade staff taking individuals down from a packed room with smoke,” a female said.  Another female, who was able to get outside the building, said: “When we began to understand the fire, we looked for a staircase that owing to thick smoke had become partly invisible.”

“We had locked our office windows and gates. The staff of fire brigade came and saved us,” she said. She added that the floor still consisted of 6 to 7 people from which she was saved.

A woman, saved by using an aerial ladder, was found shooting the scene on her mobile phone while she was being rescued to the floor. Visuals on TV showed the building smoke and individuals on the terrace attempting to point out those below.

The event occurs one day after one individual died and two were injured in a 4-storey construction in southern Mumbai, behind the famous Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

Over 49,000 fire accidents have taken place in Mumbai in the last one decade, killing over 600 individuals; the Maharashtra government informed the assembly on November 2018.

On 29 December 2017, a huge fire took place in two pubs in the Kamala Mills Compound which had claimed 14 lives. Furthermore, 12 individuals were killed on December 18, 2017, in a snack store in the area of Saki Naka-Kurla.