Fire engulfs popular restaurant in Mumbai killing 15 people

A huge fire erupted in a busy restaurant in Mumbai, resulting in the death of 15 people and injury of dozens of others. The blaze erupted on Friday and it raged on till the early hours of the next day before firefighters put it out.

It has been reported that many of the victims were young women who were attending a birthday party on the rooftop of the restaurant when the fire broke out. Most of the victims died due to asphyxiation, as they tried to flee the burning building.

It is not certain how the fire broke out, but local media reported that a false ceiling of the four-storey building collapsed, trapping people inside as they tried to escape. The incident caused panic which resulted in a stampede as people tried to flee to save their lives.

Eleven of the victims were female partygoers, according to authorities.

One woman who said she was in the building at the time told of the desperate scenes as people tried to escape.

“There was a stampede and someone pushed me,” Sulbha Arora said on Twitter.

“People were running over me even as the ceiling above me was collapsing in flames. Still don’t know how I got out alive. Some powers were definitely protecting me.”

The victims were immediately rushed to the hospital by rescue workers while the firefighters dealt with the fire.

“Fourteen people have succumbed to their injuries and remaining victims have been discharged from the King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital. Most of the deaths were due to asphyxiation,” Avinash Supe, dean of local KEM hospital told AFP.

Police said they were investigating the cause of the fire, and had filed a preliminary case against the restaurant’s owners.

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Posted by fatimaarshad on Dec 29 2017. Filed under Latest News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.