Mumbai: Fire breaks out in Byculla high-rise, nine suffer suffocation

A fire erupted in a 24-storey residential building in the Byculla area of Mumbai on Thursday, leading to nine individuals, including five senior citizens, experiencing suffocation. Officials reported that these nine individuals have been hospitalized and are currently being observed.

The blaze erupted at 3.40 am on the third floor of the building located in New Hind Mill Compound at MHADA colony in Ghodapdeo area of Byculla where government has given flats to people, mainly mill workers, they said. A civic official stated that the fire was contained within the electric meter cabin, wiring, cables, scrap material in the electric duct, as well as garbage and materials in the garbage duct spanning from the 1st to the 24th floor of the building.

He said at least 135 people were rescued from different floors of the building. Out of them, 25 were evacuated from the terrace, 30 from a refuge area on the 15th floor, and 80 people from a refuge area on the 22nd floor of the building, he said. Nine persons, including five aged 60 and above, suffered from suffocation. All of them were admitted to the civic-run KEM Hospital in Parel and kept under observation, officials said.