Marol fire: Suspicious blaze in kills 4 of family as they die of severe burns

The fire broke out inside a flat on the third floor of Maimoon Manzil in Saifi Park Colony MarolPic Sayyed Sameer AbediBarely a week after the Kamala Mills tragedy that killed 14 another major fire broke out in a residential building in the Marol area of Andheri leaving four of a family including two children dead All the victims died of severe burn injuries and asphyxiation According to the Mumbai Fire Brigade who have termed the fire suspicious in their report it broke out in a flat on the third floor of a fourstorey building of Maimoon Manzil in Saifi Park Colony Marol around 2 am todaySpeaking to midday eyewitness Yahya Cutleriwala 57 who resides on the second floor of the building said We were sleeping when my daughter started knocking on the door of my bedroom She had seen sparks near our window as the flat above us was up in flames We immediately rushed out of the flat without thinkingAnxious residents waited outside the building as firefighting operations continuedCutleriwala then alerted the other neighbours and called up the police control room and fire brigade We all rushed down to the building but found that the safety gate of our wing had been locked We were all stranded on the staircase It was only 10 minutes later after we screamed for help that the watchman opened the latch I then switched off all the meter boxes and vacated the building with the others he addedRati Ram 60 security personnel of the society said that the safety gate is locked at night for security reasons We wershyent aware of the fire until we heard the screams We immediately rushed and got all of them out he saidHarish Shetty divisional fire officerWhile the police immediately rushed to the spot Cutleriwala claimed that the fire brigade did not show up for a long time despite repeated calls The fire officials were confused as to which lane the society was located in I had to rush in my motorcycle to where they were and bring them to the spot after which the rescue operations began he saidThe firefighting operations were delayed by around 45 minutes Around five fire engines and three water tankers were pressed into serviceHarish Shetty divisional fire officerFour members of the Kapasi family that resided in the flat where the fire broke out were rushed to Cooper Hospital in Andheri However they were declared dead on arrival The victims have been identified as Dawood Ali Kapasi 80 Tasneem 42 Sakina 14 and Moiz 10 Tasneem suffered 40 per cent burns Moiz suffered 25 per cent burns while Dawood and Sakina suffered 100 per cent burns We will be conducting a postmortem Prima facie it appears that they died of suffocation and burns said a doctor at Cooper HospitalThe only surviving member Abbasi Kapasi is currently being questioned by the police after which a detailed report will be submitted Abbasi told the cops that he was in the hall when the fire broke out while the remaining members were in the bedroom He tried to save them but was forced to leave after the fire intensified a neighbour told midday Had the firefighters reached on time lives could have been saved Cutleriwala addedYahya Cutleriwala residentThe fire had also spread to the neighbouring flats occupied by the Kothari family but they were rescued Four members of the family Ibrahim Kothari 57 Sakina 58 Hussain 26 and Hufeza 21 were shifted to Holy Spirit hospital in Andheri While Ibrahim is currently admitted to the ICU the other members are recuperatingAnother resident Zara Cutleriwala 43 was also taken to hospital after she developed breathing problems but was later allowed to go homeIn total the fire brigade rescued around 17 persons The cause of the fire is suspicious We are investigating the issue the Mumbai Fire Brigade said