Mumbai Mall Fire Continues To Burn For The Second Day, More Than 300 Rescued

The massive fire that broke out at the City Centre Mall in Mumbai Central area is still raging on Saturday and fire-fighting operation is still on.

The fire had erupted on the second floor of the basement-plus-three storied mall on Thursday.

BCCL

According to a fire official, the blaze at the mall erupted at around 9 pm on Thursday even when almost 200-300 people were present inside the premises.

The fire erupted in a mobile shop on the second floor of the mall, which mainly houses shops for mobile accessories, besides a few other stores.

BCCL

According to fire brigade officials, the exact cause of the fire was not yet known.

As many as 18 fire engines and 10 jumbo tankers are engaged in the operation to douse the fire, an official said.

"There was no report of injury to anyone," the fire brigade official said.

BCCL

Five fire brigade personnel, including a deputy fire officer sustained injuries during the fire-fighting operation, but all of them are stable and discharged from hospitals.

The BMC said around 3,500 residents of the 55-floor Orchid Enclave tower adjoining the mall were shifted as a precautionary measure.

BCCL

The fire was initially categorised as level 1 (minor), but was upgraded to level-3 at 10.45 pm and to level-4 at 2.30 am, after flames spread to other parts of the building.

Over 3,500 people from the adjacent residential high- rise had been evacuated as a precautionary measure.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade had given a 'brigade call', in which fire engines are called from all agencies in the city.

BCCL

Mumbai has a history of fire accidents and in 2019 the Maharashtra capital had recorded as many as 5,427 fire incidents, out of which about 17 of them were serious.

The city saw one of the deadliest fire mishaps in recent times in December 2017, when fourteen people were killed and at least 16 injured after a fire broke out in a rooftop restaurant and engulfed a four-storey building in Mumbai¡¯s thriving Kamala Mills complex.

Eleven of the victims were women, many of whom had come to a pub, 1Above, to celebrate the birthday of 29-year-old Khushboo Mehta Bansali, who was among the dead.