At least seven firefighters were injured while battling a blaze in a Navi Mumbai high-rise on Saturday morning. Officials said, the fire was triggered by an LPG cylinder explosion on the top two floors of of the 21-storey building. All the seven injured were admitted to the National Burns Centre (NBC) in Airoli, where three of them are in the intensive care unit (ICU).
According to officials from the Navi Mumbai Disaster Control Room, the fire erupted in a duplex on the 20th and 21st floors of Sea Home Apartments in Seawoods Sector 44 near Palm Beach Road, around 6.10am on Saturday and was called in 20 minutes later. “By the time we reached the flat, it was completely gutted and our officers were injured in the firefighting operations. The injured were rushed to hospital,” said fire officer Arun Bhoir from the Nerul fire brigade.
“Six fire engines from Nerul, CBD Belapur and Vashi fire stations were rushed to the spot. All the residents are safe, as we had evacuated the building using the stairs after reaching the spot,” said Santosh Kadam, head of the regional disaster management cell (RDMC) of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). While the fire was doused by 10am, cooling operations were underway, Kadam said.
The injured firefighters have been identified as station officer VD Koli, 50, assistant station officer J P Gade, 40, (both from Nerul fire station) and five firemen – J B Bhoye, 40, D N Jawale, 43, S L Joshi, 43, M T Pawar, 40, and B A Thakrey, 39 – from different fire stations, an officer said. They were immediately rushed to the National Burns Centre (NBC) in Airoli. Three of them are admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) due to the severity of their burns.