14 dead in rooftop fire in Mumbai’s Kamala Mills
TRAGEDY Woman celebrating birthday at pub among victims; 5 officials suspended
MUMBAI: Fourteen people were killed and at least 16 injured after a fire broke out in a rooftop restaurant and engulfed a four-storey building in Mumbai’s thriving Kamala Mills complex late on Thursday night, raising concerns over fire-safety norms in the city’s commercial hubs.
Eleven of the victims were women, many of whom had come to a pub, 1Above, to celebrate the birthday of 29-year-old Khushboo Mehta Bansali, who was among the dead. Two of those who died were US-based men who went back in to try and rescue their aunt from the blaze.
All 14 victims died due to suffocation from not being able to find an exit, officials said.
The exact cause of the fire, which started at 12:23am and was doused by eight fire tenders and five water tankers around six hours later, is not yet known.
But officials said the flames spread quickly because of bamboo and other flammable material on the rooftops of 1Above and the adjacent Mojo Bistro. Both restaurants had been served three notices each for safety violations in recent months. In a video that was posted on social media, Bansali, dressed in a black top, is seen blowing out candles on her birthday cake to the chorus of “Happy Birthday”. The video is believed to have been recorded minutes before the fire broke out.
On Friday, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis directed Mumbai’s municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta to conduct an inquiry and determine who was responsible for the incident.
Mehta suspended five Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, and transferred assistant municipal commissioner Prashant Sapkale hours after the incident. The police lodged an FIR against the owners of 1Above — Hitesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijit Manka.
In an official statement, the management of 1 Above said it was not to blame: “All our premises are well inspected and we have all requisite permissions.”
According to the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) officials, however, both restaurants did not have emergency exits, which led to over 200 people getting trapped inside. The pubs did not have working fire safety equipment, and flammable material such as tarpaulin sheets and artificial flowers for decoration aggravated the fire, said deputy chief fire officer R Chaudhary.
Mojo Bistro and 1Above had made extensive alterations to the structure of the building, and illegally occupied the large balcony area of the top floor, the officials said. “Both had licences only to use one-third of the area of the floor.”