Fires hit Mumbai and Thane over Diwali weekend; four injured, dozens rescued

• Fires in Mumbai and Thane triggered evacuations and rescue operations, with four people suffering minor injuries in Kasarvadavali

• Fifty people were rescued from Thane’s Raheja Garden complex, while a late-night blaze engulfed shops and hutments in Dongri

• Separate incidents were reported in Dadar and Vidyavihar; an earlier fire in Andheri West killed one person

A series of fires across Mumbai and Thane over the Diwali weekend left four people with minor injuries and forced residents to seek safety on terraces and refuge floors, as emergency crews fought blazes in residential buildings, shops and hutments.

The incidents included a fire at a high-rise in Thane’s Raheja Garden complex on Sunday evening and a late-night blaze in Dongri. Separate fires were reported in Kasarvadavali and Dadar, while an earlier incident in Andheri West claimed one life.

In Thane’s Wagle Estate area, a fire broke out at around 8.30 pm on Sunday at the 17-storey Carlyle building in the Raheja Garden complex.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde said responders rescued 50 people, moving residents to the terrace and refuge areas. Drones were used to locate the fire and identify stranded occupants, he said, reporting no casualties.

Yasin Tadvi, chief of the Thane Municipal Corporation’s Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC), said two fire tenders, two Bronto skylift appliances, water tankers and ambulances were deployed. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

In Mumbai’s Dongri area, flames spread through several shops and hutments at Haji Kasam Chawl, near Datta Mandir on Dr Maheshwari Road, late on Sunday.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade classified the incident as a Level-I fire at 10.11 pm. Firefighters were joined by police, BEST staff, civic ward personnel and the 108 ambulance service.

Residents reported hearing explosion-like sounds, although those accounts could not be independently verified. Officials said firefighting efforts were continuing, with details of damage and any casualties awaited.

Earlier on Sunday, four people suffered minor injuries when a fire broke out in the seventh-floor corridor of A wing at Aravali Hills Society in Kasarvadavali, Thane West, shortly after midnight.

Tadvi identified the injured as Mahesh Dhas, 46, Reena Dhas, 46, and Vedant Dhas, 18, of flat 704, and Rajendra Joshi, 67, of flat 504.

Two residents trapped in flat 701 — Shahid Anand, 32, and Swamini Paradkar, 35 — were rescued.

The blaze was extinguished by 1.10 am. It damaged entrance doors, electrical wiring and the lift, affecting flats 701 to 704, according to the RDMC.

Two fire vehicles, a rescue vehicle, a utility vehicle and a municipal ambulance were deployed, with personnel from Kasarvadavali police station assisting.

In Dadar West, a fire involving wood and bamboo broke out at Kamgar Stadium in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar at around 10.15 am on Sunday. Firefighters extinguished it by 10.32 am, and no injuries were reported.

A separate fire reported on Wednesday affected two connected seventh-floor flats at Skyline Epitome, a ground-plus-seven-storey building in Vidyavihar West.

The blaze began at around 4.50 pm and was extinguished by about 7 pm. Firefighters rescued three women and two men from a flat opposite the affected homes after smoke and intense heat blocked their exit through the passage.

No injuries were reported. The affected flats, covering approximately 3,000 sq ft, sustained damage to electrical wiring, fittings, furniture, doors, windows, household belongings and split air-conditioning units. The cause remained under investigation.

Meanwhile, officials said one person died in a fire at a residential high-rise in Lokhandwala, Andheri West, on Saturday night.

With agency inputs