Fire erupts in south Mumbai high-rise; one person injured, 30 rescued

A 57-year-old man was injured while around 30 persons were rescued after a fire broke out in a 62-storey residential building in south Mumbai's Byculla area around Saturday midnight, 1 June.

The fire erupted in a flat on the 10th floor of the Monte South building's A wing in the Khatao Mill Compound in Byculla at 11.42 pm on Saturday, a fire official said.

According to officials, some people were stranded on the upper floors of the building, 25 to 30 persons were rescued through the staircase and a man, identified as Pandurang Shinde, was injured.

It was a "level-2" fire which was confined to the electric wiring and installations, wooden furniture, household articles, wardrobe, mattresses, wooden beds, sofas, curtains, electronic appliances, false ceilings, doors, windows and modular kitchen of the 10th floor flat and curtains, window glass of an apartment on the 11th floor, officials said.

Eight water tankers and six fire engines were rushed to the spot and four hose lines and nine motor pumps were in operation. The fire was extinguished at 2.45 am.

While firefighting, an explosion of a refrigerator compressor occurred in the kitchen of the 10th-floor flat, he said.

The cause of the fire was not yet known. There were reports that the blaze erupted after a suspected short-circuit in one of the flats on the 10th floor of the tower.