Sources said a spark from the electric cabin of one of the shops may have started the fire, but it was the chemicals used to clean gold in a workshop that may have unleashed the inferno
Fire
Prima facie investigations into the deadly blaze in Kalbadevi’s Gokul Niwas building point towards the fact that though the fire may have started in a shop on the ground floor, it was the stored chemicals and mobile batteries on the upper floors of the structure that wreaked havoc upon it.
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The source of the fire is suspected to be a spark in the electric meter of a ground-floor shop, but the mobile phone batteries on the second floor and chemicals for cleaning gold, stored on the fourth floor, turned it into an inferno. Pics/Bipin Kokate
After getting a call at 4.20 pm, when the firefighters reached Gokul Niwas, they saw that a small sari shop on the ground floor had caught fire. This shop was right below the wooden staircase. Sources said the spark may have originated from the electric meter cabin and flew onto the cloth. The shop owner had closed the shutters, in an attempt to contain the flames, but it only made matters worse.
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Smoke billowing from the burning sari godown had hampered the firemen’s vision.
Since the building was under repairs, the scaffolding and repair material kept on the premises ensured the flames reached the upper floors. Even with people running helter-skelter, firemen managed to rescue 14 persons stranded inside by 4.45 pm. Two women and an 11-month-old child were stranded on the third floor. Firefighters rushed to the neighbouring building and managed to save the trio.
Inferno
By this time, the fire had reached the second floor after completely consuming a sari godown on the first floor. Smoke billowing from that room hindered firemen’s vision. By 5.35 pm, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Sudhir Amin put up a ladder against the back of the building and rescued three men stuck on the third floor.
By 5.50 pm, Chief Fire Officer Sunil Nesrikar, along with fire officers S W Rane and M N Desai, entered the building. Sources said Nesrikar wanted to inspect the rescue operations. He, along with Rane, Desai and Amin went inside. As the four saw only smoke, they assumed the blaze had been tamed.
Unbeknownst to them, there were cell phone batteries on the second floor. On the fourth floor was a gold workshop full of chemicals used to clean the metal. The presence of these substances increased the intensity of the flames. “We heard a terrible blast on the second floor where mobile phone batteries and an air conditioner compressor had been kept,” said a fire officer.
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The 50-year-old structure couldn’t withstand the damage any more. The left side of the building started to collapse and fell on Rane and Desai. The duo was crushed under the debris; the torches they had been holding fell onto the debris, shining the light onto the hands they had been in, moments ago.
At the same time, Nesrikar was hit by a ball of fire squarely on his face. He was attempting to climb on a ladder and fell on the same heap under which Rane and Desai were trapped. At around 7.10 pm, Nesrikar was rescued by other firemen.
Trapped
Meanwhile a big slab came down straight onto Amin — who is considered to be a strongman among the firemen — and fell on his legs. However, the chemical substances that had served to further the fire were still to cause more damage.
The liquid came dripping onto Amin and continued trickling down on his body for more than an hour. This led to Amin suffering from extreme burn injuries and with him trapped under a huge slab, it proved to be difficult to pull him out.
A JCB machine was brought in at around 8.20 pm to lift the heavy slab atop Amin. 25 firemen then entered and pulled him out. His skin had turned completely white due to the splashing chemical.
Within a couple of hours, the building crumbled. Gradually, the bodies of Desai and Rane were also removed around midnight. While the duo perished in their fight, Amin and Nesrikar are battling for their lives.
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