Fire breaks out at Light of Asia building; fire fighters injured

In the wee hours of the early morning today, a massive fire broke out at a building and had injured 2 firefighters.

A massive fire broke out at Patel Chambers in Mumbai’s fort area on Saturday morning, bringing down a portion of the building. No fatality was reported, while two firefighters were injured.

Nearly 18 fire tenders were pressed into service as level-3 fire (that requires immediate evacuation) escalated to level-4, which led to the collapse of a portion of the old building. A fire official said that the blaze started around 4 am and engulfed most part of the structure by 6:30 am. 

“The fire brigade personnel were injured when the portion of the building, called Kothari building (also known as the Light Of Asia), collapsed during the fire-fighting operation,” he added. The ground-plus-five-storey structure in the Fort area, a major business district, is old and its southern part crumbled while the personnel were putting out the blaze.

READ ALSO: A massive fire breaks out at Scindia House in South Mumbai, zero casualties reported

The exact cause of the fire is not known yet. Since the building was unoccupied for the last four years, it is no fire norms in place or they were flouted.

“The fire started from the fourth or fifth floor, and our motive was to not let the fire spread to the nearby buildings. As Patel Chambers had some woodwork, the blaze spread rapidly,” Chief Fire Officer said.

This is the second incident of major fire in the area in last 10 days. A level-4 fire had engulfed the Income Tax office in South Mumbai’s Scindia House last Friday. Even as eight people were initially stranded on the terrace, no casualties were reported in the incident.

Meanwhile, a fire also broke out in the neighbouring state of Gujarat after a slab from the third floor of a dye mill in Surat’s Pandesara area fell and injured 35 labourers. The slab hit an oil pipe, which led to a leakage that caused the blaze.

More than 35 labourers were injured after slab of the third floor of a dyeing mill fell on them in #Surat‘s Pandesara. Fire broke out in the mill subsequently due to leakage in oil pipe caused by the mishap. Injured admitted to hospital #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/cJYBkBycvf

— ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2018