One audio assistant dead in fire at Mumbai studio
MUMBAI: One person was killed in a major fire that gutted Cinevista studio at Kanjurmarg on Saturday evening, just days after two other fires that killed 18 people in the city. The victim, Gopi Surajkumar Verma, 20, reportedly worked as an audio assistant for the studio.
The studio will face action for its defunct fire fighting system, officials said. “The fire fighting system at Cinevista studios was not functional. The fire brigade will send the studio a notice for non-compliance on Monday,” R Choudhari, deputy chief fire officer told HT.
The studio houses the sets of popular television serial Bepanah. Shooting for the show was on when the fire began and about 100 crew members were evacuated from the site. While the team did not report a member missing on Saturday night, Verma’s family members approached the police on Sunday morning, an official from the fire brigade said.
The family reported that Verma had not come home all night and his mobile phone was not reachable. Following this, the gutted premises of the studio was searched by the fire brigade only to find Verma’s body.
Speaking to HT, a senior civic official said, “The body was partially burnt. Following Saturday night’s fire-fighting operations, no one from the crew reported any missing people. So no rescue operations took place on Saturday night.” While the cause of the fire is not known yet, primary investigation reveals a short circuit in a generator.