Kamala Mills fire: Roundup of the Mumbai inferno that claimed 14 lives

A view from the street after a fire broke out in a building in Mumbai on Friday At least 14 people were killed and as many injured after a major fire in Kamala Mills Compound in Lower Parel PicPTIFourteen persons including a young woman celebrating her birthday died from breathing toxic fumes and at least 55 others were injured in a major fire that engulfed a pub and other establishments in Mumbai early on FridayAccording to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation BMC Disaster Control the blaze was noticed around 1230 am at The Mojo Bistro and 1 Above both rooftop restaurants in The Kamla Trade House a posh businesscummediacumentertainment hub in Lower Parel area of south MumbaiThe flames initially suspected to be triggered by an electric shortcircuit quickly spread to an adjacent pub and a restaurant trapping over 200 people on the premises who screamed and ran helterskelter to escape the toxic fumesAmong the victims was Khushboo Jayesh Bhansali who was celebrating her 29th birthday in the restaurant with her husband and their friends her family saidThe tragedy cast an ominous shadow on the upcoming New Year 2018 celebrations in the maximum city renowned for its varied night life late night parties and outings and forced the BMC to review all safety and fire precautions for the December 31 parties planned in the cityPresident Ram Nath Kovind Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Prime Minister Narendra Modi Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis have expressed grief over the incident and offered their condolences to the families of the victimsTaking serious note of the incident BMC Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta announced suspension of five officials including Assistant Municipal Commissioner Prashant Sapkale for various lapses and ordered a probe which will be completed within 15 daysFadnavis who visited the site in the afternoon warned of very stringent action against the officials and others found guiltyIf the officials and owners are found responsible for the loss of lives they will be booked under IPC Guilty wont be spared I have ordered a safety audit of all such structures immediately a grim Fadnavis said at the siteMeanwhile Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwars indiscreet comments unleashed a controversy on social media when he said he could not be aware of everything happening in the cityI cant be aware of all that is happening in Mumbai What do we have the Ward Officers for A probe has been ordered action will be taken he said when asked about the lapses leading to the tragedyAccording to BMC more than 12 fire tenders were rushed to fight the blaze which was finally brought under control and extinguished around 630 am It was only then that the full impact of the disaster came to lightA majority of the victims were reported to have died on the spot and the firemen rescued at least 10 peopleThe injured were rushed to the KEM Hospital Bhatia Hospital and Airoli Burns Hospital and 14 are still admitted while the remaining 41 were treated and discharged or opted to go for private treatmentThe autopsies revealed that a majority of the deaths occurred due to asphyxiation and inhaling poisonous fumes from the burning materials said KEM Hospitals Dean Avinash SupeThe entire pub and the surrounding complex was full of patrons including many women and tourists with an estimated 400plus thronging the fashionable area to unwind The blaze has raised serious questions about the safety norms implemented thereMumbai police have booked the owner of one of the pubs for negligence and culpable homicide not amounting to murder and one of the restaurants is reportedly owned by a former top police official according to sourcesThere are many major corporates TVradioprint media offices more than three dozen highend restaurants pubs etc which also suffered damage in the fire and their working was affected on FridayThe Times Network with offices of all its major channels in the same complex was hit temporarily but employees were evacuated safelyAfter the disruption TimesNow TimesNow HD ET Now and Mirror Now were operational by late morning while Movies Now Movies Now HD MN MNX HD Romedy Now Romedy Now HD and Zoom would be back on air an official spokesperson saidThe blaze spells a massive setback to the governments plans to make nightlife attractive by permitting all shopsmalls to function roundtheclock to generate more employment and boost tourism in the stateBarely nine days ago the state government had notified the relevant amendments to the laws though it was not made applicable to bars pubs discotheques and wine shopsHowever these were expected to come under the ambit of the new laws in due course with the BMC initiating several measures in this directionLeader of Opposition Radhakrishna VikhePatil alleging corruption in the BMC demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation CBI probe into the tragedy especially with the New Year Eve celebrations around the cornerBlaming the BMC Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam sought stringent action against those responsible for allowing the eateries to function despite rules being blatantly floutedQuoting a friend who witnessed the conflagration Congress legislator Nitesh Rane claimed that a hookah parlour caused the blaze and not a shortcircuit as speculated He added that Mojo and another restaurant are only issued food licences but not for serving hookahs to customersYuva Sena President Aditya U Thackeray one of the proponents of improving Mumbai nightlife said implementation of fire safety norms was a must and BMC would come down hard on violatorsBharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya attacked the Shiv Senacontrolled BMC for lapses and demanded a complete fire audit of all buildings in the cityIn what appeared to be a blamegame both The Mojo Bistro and 1Above issued separate statements saying they had implemented all fire and safety norms as per rules and did not store any gas cylinders on their premisesCatch up 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