Washing machine explodes in Bandra; family escapes miraculously

A washing machine serviced just 20 days ago exploded inside a sixth floor flat at Linking Road Bandra West on July 12 even as a 74yearold woman and her teenaged granddaughter slept unaware What prevented it from ending in disaster was the presence of mind of neighbours who called the fire brigade entered the house using a duplicate key took the occupants to safety and helped douse the fireThe washing machine was kept in the duct space behind the washroom and the door was locked from the inside The family didnt hear the explosion or see smoke billowing out even after the power supply was disconnectedThe machineNeha Chopra who lives in the flat along with her 18yearold daughter Shreya and 16yearold son Karan said Fifteen minutes before the incident around 1045 am I left my residence for a yoga class I didnt notice my phone vibrating but sometime later when I checked it I saw 15 missed calls that had been made by my neighbours over the space of five minutes I rushed home to find everyone downstairs including my daughter and mother and was told that there had been a fire inside the house When I went upstairs the house was completely dark because of the smoke The explosion was so massive that the entire washing machine has come apart and the switch board does not exist nowAlso ReadMumbai Minor fire in childrens section of hospital in Parel dousedShe added My 74yearold mother Kamal Sehgal who had come to visit as it was Shreyas birthday on July 10 was sleeping in one bedroom and Shreya in the other Her bedroom is connected to the duct where the washing machine was kept My neighbour Richa Bhavani who has the keys to my flat lives on the eighth floor and ran downstairs when she saw the smoke billowing out of our flatThe receipt for the servicing done by the Samsung agentShe opened the door and took my daughter and mother out She and the other neighbours tried to douse the fire I am thankful to them and to the fire brigade who reached within minutes after the call was made to them The fire could have spread to the entire building The building is on the main road and there are a lot of restaurants connected to it the fire would have caused a lot of damage if things had got out of handAlert neighbours came to rescueRicha Bhavani said I called Neha several times but there was no response so I immediately rushed to her flat and opened the door with the duplicate keys Shreya was sleeping in one bedroom and her mother in the other I quickly took them out of the flatServicing done just 20 days agoI had bought the washing machine seven years ago and last month had got it repaired after it started giving electric shocks when touched The Samsung executive visited our house and within five minutes said everything was okay He said the earthing wire had got disconnected from the machine and hence electricity was passing through it I asked him if there was any major problem and that I could buy a new one if there was but he said thats not required everything is fine Neha addedPoor response from SamsungOn July 12 after the incident I called them telling them that there is an emergency and told them about the incident Their response was very disappointing Thirty hours after I made the emergency complaint their executive visited my home again and took all the pictures and left Such is the attitude of a company like Samsung who does not even care about somebodys life Neha added midday tried to reach out to Samsung for their response but they remained unavailable for commentFire brigade saysMaintenance of allelectric appliances such as AC refrigerator washing machine water purifiers etc needs to be done on time In this case we have found that maintenance had not been done properly which is the main reason behind the fire We reached the spot within minutes after the call was made to us and the fire was doused before it spread said Prabhat Rangdale chief fire officerAlso ReadSee Photos Western Railways cleans up dirty Bandra station premisesCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates