One person died after falling from 19th floor and 16 others were rescued after a fire broke out in the 60-storey Avighna Park in south Mumbai’s Curry Road area around midday on Friday. The fire was doused by evening and Municipal Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has ordered an inquiry based on the complaints filed by other residents of the high riser.
Arun Tiwari, 30, was working as security guard in the building and was present at the 19th floor when furniture work was going on in one of the flats. “He panicked and ran to the window from where he was trying to come out by hanging outside. But he fell. He was rushed to the KEM hospital but he was declared dead on arrival,” said a fire brigade official.
Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar said the staff of the tower should have rushed to evacuate and help immediately after the fire broke out while fire brigade was on its way.
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“Had they acted, the man could have been saved,” she said. Ms Pednekar added that residents have complained against the developer of Avighna Park for non-cooperation in land conveyance and other matters. “It has resulted in delay in several safety related matters in the tower and today’s incident is a result of that,” she said.
Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said the civic officials have taken a note of complaints of residents. “An administrative probe will be conducted and action will be taken based on that,” he said.
The fire broke out at around 11.45 a.m. A total of 40 vehicles including 14 fire engines, nine jumbo tankers, one control room vehicle, skylift were on the spot. The fire was controlled by around 3.30 p.m. and it was completely doused by around 4.58 p.m.
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