Flat gutted and eight injured in fire in Juhu building

Mumbai: Eight persons were injured after a fire broke out in a flat on the sixth floor of a building on JVPD Road No. 12 in Juhu around 7.40 am. The fire gutted a flat on the sixth floor in Manisha Building, a ground-plus-11-storey structure near Arogya Nidhi hospital.

According to officials of the fire brigade, the fire originated in the AC unit of the flat.

“A caretaker was present in the flat on the sixth floor and had kept the AC on through the night. A short-circuit may have caused the fire in the AC unit. The caretaker initially tried to extinguish the fire on his own. When he could not douse it, the boy panicked and went down to seek help. However, while going down, he kept the main door of the flat open, which led to the spread of heat and smoke to the upper floors and burnt the main doors of the flats on the seventh, eighth and ninth floors,” said a fire brigade official.

“Meanwhile, some residents of the upper floors went to the terrace, while some of them we got down through the staircase. We asked a senior citizen to stay in the house itself. The fire-fighting system of the building was functional and and we managed to extinguish the fire by 11.30 am. Some of the residents suffered smoke injuries. None of them have suffered serious injuries or burn injuries and all of them are stable,” the official added.

Among the injured were Gautam Zaveri (86) and Richa Gupta (44), who were treated and sent home. Alpa (63), Anusha (35), Nipul (52), Sarla Dharu (80), Rahil (36) and Kokila Zaveri (91) were admitted to hospital and were in stablecondition, said a BMC release.