Fire caused by a short circuit, ignites two gas cylinders kept on the first floor, leading to the tragic deaths.
Mumbai : A major fire that took three lives – of one woman and her two sons, broke out on the ground floor of a two storey building, called Fasta Society at Parksite in Vikhroli on Saturday afternoon. The fire led to two cylinder blasts that took the fire brigade four hours to douse. No other injuries have been reported. The deceased were taken to Rajawadi hospital and declared dead on arrival.
The deceased have been identified as Salma Salim (35) and her sons Miraz Salim (15), and Mohammad Salim (10). They are survived by Salma’s husband Salim Belim (48) and their daughter, Salia Salim (12). As Salim and Salia were on the ground floor at the time of the incident, they managed to escape, while Salma, Miraz and Mohammad were in their house on the first floor.
Officials from the Parksite police station investigating the case said that the fire originated from a short circuit in a meter box near the
ground floor shop. As it was a shop selling mattresses, the fire quickly consumed cloth and cotton and spread to the first floor of the building, housing the Belim family. This led to two consecutive cylinder blasts in the house, leading to the three deaths.
The Fire Brigade received a call at 3.28 pm. and one fire engine was immediately rushed to the spot. The fire engine was present when the first cylinder blast happened, and thereafter four other fire engines, three water tankers and two ambulances were rushed to the spot. A fireman present on the spot informed that the residents tried to douse the fire in the shop by themselves for a few minutes before informing the fire brigade. When it began to spread to the top floors, they called the control room. As the lane leading to Fasta building is very narrow and congested due to unchecked vehicle parking, the fire engines took a few extra minutes to reach the blazing building.
