Some patrons of 1 Above casually took selfies of the massive flames, while a few others lay immobilised in drunken stupor, delaying evacuation from the pub, eyewitnesses said on Friday. Difficulty in finding the exit door also impeded rescue efforts.
“Around ten minutes past midnight, I got out of my office after hearing commotion. A sea of people came rushing at me. They were basically running wherever the pathway led them to,” Mahesh Sable, who works for a private security agency, said.
His colleague Sanjay Giri, said initially the drunken stupor of some of the patrons and an obsession with getting videos of the fire delayed rescue efforts. “I guided whoever we could see. It was later, after we went down, that they told us about their relatives and friends being stuck in the toilet ,” Mr. Giri added.
