Mumbai Oct 22 PTI A 30-year-old security guard fell to his death from a balcony on the 19th floor of a 61-storey residential building in central Mumbai after a major fire broke out there on Friday officials said A video of the tragic incident showing the man precariously holding onto the railing of the balcony just before falling went viral The Fire Brigade rescued sixteen other stranded persons The blaze erupted on the 19th floor of the One Avighna Park building in Currey Road area shortly before noon The cause was suspected to be a short circuit inside a flat but this was yet to be confirmed officials said Inquiry would be conducted into the incident said Mumbai municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal who alongwith Mayor Kishori Pednekar visited the spot The flames spread from the 19th floor to the 20th before being doused after five hours As many as 16 fire engines nine water tankers and two ladders were pressed into service a fire brigade official said After the fire broke out Arun Tiwari a security guard of the building rushed to the 19th floor But he soon realized that he was trapped and to save himself he went to the balcony of the flat where the fire had erupted another official said He held on to the balconys railing dangling precariously for several minutes before losing grip and falling to his death the official said He was rushed to the civic-run KEM Hospital where he was declared dead The fire brigade said it was a level-4 fire which means a major blaze Mayor Pednekar said Tiwari could have been saved had the private security guards appointed at the building been well-trained They Tiwaris colleagues had 15 minutes to take necessary steps Had they caught him in a bedsheet below or put mattresses on the floor he might have survived she said He lost grip on the railing before the fire brigade could put up the ladder she added As many as 16 persons who were stuck on the upper floors were safely rescued through the staircase while two people earlier said to be missing were safe in their flat officials said Hemant Parab chief fire official of the Mumbai Fire Brigade told PTI that the fire was confined to only 19th and 20th floors Initially the internal fire-fighting system of the building did not have sufficient water pressure but later it started working he said The fire could have been contained quicker had the system functioned well from the start he added Maharashtra Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray also visited the spot Fire has been doused and cooling ops are underway I met and thanked the brave jawans of the Mumbai Fire Brigade for their swift response he tweeted After five hours around 5 pm the fire brigade declared that the fire was completely doused Pednekar called an immediate meeting of deputy municipal commissioners in the evening on the issues of fire safety and illegal constructions Commissioner Chahal said strict action would be taken if the complaints made by the buildings residents were found to be true An administrative inquiry into the fire incident will be conducted Also if the complaints are found be factual strict action will be taken against the concerned Chahal said Pednekar said some furniture work was going on in the flat where the fire started The building has 300 flats and around 200 of them are occupied she said Residents of the building alleged while speaking to the media that the developer had not yet transferred the premises formally to them though society was formed long ago and therefore they can not carry out any work Some residents also alleged that the builder was carrying out illegal construction on the premises Pednekar said she had asked the administration to probe these allegationsPTI KK VT NP KRK KRK

Mumbai Sep 30 PTI As many as 30 medical students of civic-run KEM Hospital in Mumbai have tested positive for COVID-19 a BMC official said on ThursdayOne of the MBBS students who has mild symptoms of the infection has been admitted to SevenHills Hospital for treatment said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC officialThe other students are asymptomatic and have been quarantined he saidAll the infected students were staying in a hostel inside the hospital complex located at Parel in central Mumbai the official said PTI MR RSY RSY