Back on Monday, a massive fire broke out in the government run ESIC Kamgar hospital at Marol, the suburban area of Andheri, Mumbai. The fire broke out around 4pm and kept of spreading succumbing many lives into it. Recently, it was recorded that about eight people lost their life to the fire and a six month was one among them. While six deaths were reported on Monday, the confirmation of two more deaths came on Tuesday morning as per the news reports of ANI. Apart from that 140 people have been injured due to the incident. Many tried to save their lives by jumping of the building and ended up hurting themselves.
Andheri Hospital Fire: The difficulties
The firefighters took over three hours to solve the level 4 fire. The level 4 fire is regarded to be the second on the level for the fire alarm’s danger level. Immediately as the fire broke out, 10 fire engines were rushed to the spot. Moreover, the patients were immediately taken tmand shifted to the nearby hospitals. The nearby hospitals where the patients were taken include Holy Spirit Hospital, Seven Hills Hospital, Cooper Hospital, P Thackeray Trauma Hospital and Hiranandani Hospital.
In an interview with the news agency, Mayor of Mumbai V Mahadeshwar said, “The cause of the fire is not known yet. Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) is responsible for the fire audits, whether they carried out fire audits or not, that will be investigated.”
Andheri Hospital Fire: Reason is yet unknown
There are few sources which have been reporting the cause of fire breakout to be the short circuit in the window AC. The building is five-storey tall and it is being believed that the one in the ground floor has suffered from the circuit outbreak. One of the fire officers informed the Times of India that the building had no OC or fire NOC (no-objection certificate). This was due to the infrastructural problems in the building and the absence of most of the safety provisions in the building. Defending this, the assistant director of the hospital, Sarika Kakkad said, “We have OC and fire NOC. The portion without the final NOC is not being used.”
In the interview, the officer said, “In fact, 15 days ago, we went to the hospital on an inspection and served it a notice.”
Andheri Hospital Fire: Terror among eyewitnesses
Even in such situations, the condition of the hospital’s as tremendous. Many eye witnesses came forward to describe the horror and terror. One of them said that the exits gates of the hospital were locked due to the construction work. However, only one gate was open which led to severe problem in the rescue operation. Apart from that the firefighters were also facing difficulty because of the limited ventilation and glass facade.
After the investigation, one of the officers said, “The ground floor had stacks of rubber rolls, which are combustible material. This is likely to have aided the fire, presumably triggered by a short circuit. The fire then shot upwards through an open fire duct. The fourth floor of the hospital was affected the most as smoke got lodged there for the longest duration.”