Ex-mumbai player in fire rescue act
With cricket practice halted, Aquib Shaikh would go for a light jog every morning. On Thursday, he felt a bit stiff and slept for an extra hour.
The extra time ended up saving the life of his wife, mother, 80-year-old grandmother and a few of his neighbours from the fire that had started on the floors below, which housed commercial establishment, and was fast spreading to the upper floors.
As he prepared to leave for his run, he could smell the burning of wire. At first he thought it might be a short circuit as the area he stays in—bail Bazaar in Kalyan—witnesses power outages in summer. But as he stepped out of his bedroom, his mother came rushing over shouting, “fire, fire”. That’s when Shaikh realised what had happened.
As he opened the main door, the passage outside was engulfed with thick black smoke. “I couldn’t see anything, as the duct from where the smoke was coming was just beside my door,” said 29-year-old Shaikh, who has represented Mumbai once in the Ranji Trophy.
“My family had given up hope. My mother was shouting ‘we are going to die’. Even I was breathless by that moment but I had to stay strong. I told them to wrap handkerchief around their face and took them to a small refuge area on my floor,” Shaikh, who stays on the sixth floor of the eight-storey building, said.
The refuge area was a few feet away but with zero visibility and breathlessness, Shaikh said it felt like an “eternity” to cover a the distance. While they could breathe fresh air, they weren’t out of danger, along with a few more people gathered there.
To make sure of his family’s safety and that of the others, they had to make it to the terrace of an adjoining building which was 10-12 feet below. The only way of reaching it was through a ladder, which was in a really bad shape and could crumble any time. One after another, Shaikh and his friends made sure everyone were taken to safety. “Some who could jump, jumped onto the terrace. But we had to carry some. My granny stepped on my shoulder while my friends supported her from the refuge area as we alighted her and other women and kids safely,” said Shaikh.