MUMBAI: In the end, there was no Khushboo of life, only the stench of death on a charred rooftop pub despite prayers to the 1 Above.
Khushboo Bansali had rung in her 29th year by cutting a birthday cake and was partying past midnight with close friend Kinjal Mehta and others at the rooftop pub at 1 Above in Mumbai’s Kamala Mills when disaster struck in the wee hours of Friday.
A huge blaze, apparently sparked by an electrical short circuit, engulfed the pub within minutes, filling it with smoke and setting off a virtual stampede among panicked patrons scurrying to find a way out. The fire rapidly spread to Mojos, a bistro on the third floor, and to the office of a Marathi TV channel in the building.
By the time the blaze — it started around 12.30am — was doused some five hours later, 14 people had lost their lives, 11 of them young women attending Khushboo’s birthday party. Unable to flee the building with sections of the roof coming crashing down and doors being locked, many women are reported to have huddled in washrooms. Ultimately, most of them suffocated to death, sources said.
Khushboo’s maternal uncle, Jethamalji Bhotra, blamed the hotel management for inadequate firefighting facilities. “The place was such that even a match-stick would have caused a major fire,” he said. “It’s a big blow to the family. She left home around 11 pm to enjoy her birthday with friends. Then tragedy struck.”
Another of Khushboo’s relatives said the hotel had put up a temporary structure supported by bamboo that could have caused the flames to spread. “There was no fire-extinguishing facility either. The police and civic authorities must take action against such violations,” he said.
Five officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation were suspended after the incident. Hratesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Manka of C Grade Hospitality, which manages 1 Above, have been booked under IPC sections for culpable homicide and endangering the lives of others.
Khushboo’s family wasn’t the only one devastated by the fire. Two brothers living in the US — Dhairya Lalani, 26, and Vishwa Lalani, 23 — had come to the pub with a cousin to catch up with their aunt, Pramila Kenia, 70. The cousin, Viral Chheda, told a news agency that the brothers had been seated near the exit and managed to rush out when the stampede started.
But they went back in when they found their aunt missing and never returned. The aunt too died. “They tried to save her life and gave up their own,” Chheda told a news agency. One of the brothers’ family members said: “It is sad.”
Sharad Jadhav, a Marathi news channel producer working in his office in the same building, said the moment he heard about the fire, he asked all of his colleagues to leave.
Selfie over safety delays evacuation
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Choked to death in restroom
Survivors said people tried to take shelter in the restroom. “The ladies’ washroom was far from the exit so many women there died due to asphyxiation. Nobody in there could have survived”
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