Infant was visiting mother
A daily visit to see her mother and be breastfed proved fatal for a two-month-old girl on Monday. The baby, whose mother, Rukmini Yadav, was admitted to the fourth floor ward of the ESIC Hospital with kidney stones, died due to severe smoke inhalation in Monday’s fire.
Born on October 15 at the same hospital, the baby was to be named Sheetal. “Her mother liked the name. So, we both decided on it,” said an inconsolable Rajesh Yadav, the baby’s father. “We were going to have an official naming ceremony soon,” he said.
The baby’s last rites were carried out on Tuesday evening. Ms. Yadav has still not been informed about the tragedy.
A cook with an airline food catering company, Mr. Yadav would drop off the baby at the hospital every morning on his way to work since December 14, when his wife was hospitalised. “My wife’s sister Dimple would stay at the hospital with them. The doctors had told us breastfeeding was important. And once I left for work, there was no one to take care of the baby at home,” he said.
Mr. Yadav would take the baby home at night. “The ESIC staff had mistakenly written that we had a boy. We had got the error rectified and a fresh birth certificate was to be issued a week later,” Mr. Yadav, a resident of Marol, said.
On Monday, the baby and her aunt Dimple were sleeping near Ms. Yadav’s bed. When smoke engulfed the ward, Ms. Yadav went to help them, but lost consciousness. Around 8 p.m., Mr. Yadav got a call from Cooper Hospital, where Dimple was admitted in the medical intensive care unit. He learnt that his wife was admitted to Seven Hills Hospital. “I could not find the baby anywhere. Late at night, the police showed me a picture for identification and said the baby was taken to Holy Spirit.”
Rescued by firemen, she had a fatal fall
Forty-eight-year-old Aarti Kotharkar, who had undergone a hernia surgery at the ESIC Hospital, slipped while being rescued by firefighters on Monday. The fall proved fatal for Kotharkar, who died on the spot.
Aarti Kotharkar (right) with her two daughters.
The Kurla resident was admitted to the hospital on December 10 and was operated on a day later. She was shifted to the fourth floor ward. Her two daughters, Priya (20) and Pooja (22), were with her when the fire broke out. Pooja is an ESIC cardholder, hence her mother was admitted there.
Kotharkar’s husband, Suresh, said, “They had all gathered near the window from where the fire brigade personnel were rescuing people.” The daughters saw their mother being helped down and then falling. “They were on a ladder. The firemen had held her, but she slipped,” he said.
Suresh got a call from one of the daughters, who just said, “ Mummy padli (mom fell),” and the call was disconnected. Suresh later learnt that his daughters were admitted to Cooper and Seven Hills hospitals due to smoke inhalation. They are now stable.
He couldn’t walk due to a fracture
Asharam Magre
A hip fracture had bound Asharam Magre (68) to his bed for several days. The security guard from Powai, admitted to the third floor ward at the ESIC Hospital, died in the fire on Monday.
His son Anand said a surgery was scheduled thrice in the past 20 days, but had to be cancelled each time. “Due to the change in weather, he had a severe cough. The doctors said they would not operate till the cough was cleared,” a relative said.
Waiting for ambulance, he was trapped in blaze
Sixty-nine-year-old Chandrakant Mhatre was waiting for an ambulance to be transferred to another hospital, when the fire broke out at ESIC Hospital on Monday. He was taken to Seven Hills Hospital, but succumbed late in the night.
Chandrakant Mhatre
Mhatre had kidney stones and was hospitalised on December 4. “The doctors said he would first require dialysis. But for surgery, we had been referred to another hospital,” his son Hemant said. They were first referred to KEM Hospital, where they could not get a date for surgery. “We were then referred to a private hospital. I completed all the paperwork and we were waiting for the ambulance to arrive when the fire broke out. We were on the fourth floor. I held my father and took the staircase to escape. But we fell unconscious due to the smoke,” Hemant, a resident of Uran, said.
They were rescued by the fire brigade. Mhatre had severe fractures along with inhalation burns. Hemant suspects that a lot of people walked over Mhatre during the chaos, which may have caused the fractures.
Weak lungs left them breathless
Four of the eight people who died in the fire at the ESIC Hospital in Andheri on Monday were patients already struggling with respiratory issues. While three of them had asthma, one had a pulmonary disease.
With their lungs already compromised, breathing became almost impossible for the patients when they were caught in the fire. All of them were admitted to the fourth floor ward, where many patients were trapped in the smoke.
Sixty-five-year-old Babu Abid Khan had been on oxygen support for the last six months. His asthma had worsened over the past one-and-a-half year and he had to be on oxygen support even at home. On November 12, he was admitted to ESIC Hospital after becoming extremely breathless.
On Monday, when the fire broke out, his daughter Sabira had stepped out to fetch medicines. “Within a moment, the hospital was filled with a thick cloud of smoke. I couldn’t reach the fourth floor ward through the smoke,” Sabira said. “He could not tolerate even the small amount of smoke while cooking. How could he have survived such toxic fumes?” she asked.
Sabira Khan shows a picture of her father, Babu Abid Khan, who died in the fire on Monday.
Manisha Karguntkar (63), also suffering from asthma, was hospitalised four days ago. Breathless after inhaling a lot of smoke, she was being helped out by a fire official, but slipped and fell. Her sister and niece, who were at the hospital, suffered from smoke inhalation injuries, too and were taken to other hospitals.
Vikhroli resident Tirathraj Gupta (70) was admitted on November 15 due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. “He was going to be discharged on Tuesday,” his son Lalchand said. Gupta’s wife, Mangla (62), was in the hospital taking care of him, but had gone to get medicines when the fire broke out.
When Lalchand reached the hospital, he was told that the patients had been sent to KEM, Rajawadi, Trauma, Holy Spirit and Cooper hospitals. “After running around for hours, we found that my father was taken to Seven Hills but had succumbed before reaching there,” he said.
Asthma patient Agrareddy Mattu (78), a resident of Kurla, was also due for discharge on Tuesday. His son Mahesh had a lucky escape as he had stepped out to talk to the doctor and inquire if any more medical tests were needed.
Mattu’s other son, Nagesh, said doctors had asked him to take a lot of precautions as his condition would fluctuate due to the weather and the excessive smog in the season. He said, “He was hospitalised on December 8, but had grown restless and was very happy to hear that he would be going home.”
