A level-four fire that broke out late on Thursday night at Bhandup’s Dreams Mall has claimed nine lives and has also raised serious concerns over how a hospital – Sunrise – was functioning inside. After the fire started on the lower floors, it rapidly spread to the hospital on the third floor, where COVID-19 patients were being treated. Though the patients were shifted to other hospitals, the BMC has asked the police to conduct a detailed probe into the incident. The Fire Brigade has also initiated an enquiry. 

Initially, the fire was confined to the wiring, electric installations, furniture, hospital equipment on the first and second floors but then it eventually spread to the third floor. Requesting anonymity, a fire official said, “The fire, which started on the first floor, spread to the upper floors quickly. The fumes suffocated patients on the third floor, as well as in the intensive care unit. Had the fire-fighting units been in working condition, then the situation could have been controlled, but none of the installations at the mall were working.”