Hot iron left on clothes sparks Vile Parle blaze, 23-year-old woman and toddler killed

A hot iron left on some clothes for a few minutes according to a senior fire official caused a fire so huge that it killed a 23yearold woman and a twoandahalfyearold boy in an 11 floor flat of a highrise in Vile Parle West on Tuesday night Six others were injured in the blaze The fire occurred in Shanta Bhuvan on Baptista Road in Vile Parle WestThe fire broke out around 9 pm on the 11th floor of the building near St Xavier School It was reported from two adjoining flats 1101 and 1102 in the stiltplus11storey building The blaze was initially classified as a Level1 fire before being upgraded to Level 2 within minutes as it spreadThe exterior of the topmost floor of the highrise where the fire broke out is visibly blackened by smoke on Wednesday PICSARTHAK MEHTAThe Mumbai Fire Brigade launched a major rescue operation with firefighters reaching the building along with police ambulance personnel and civic officials Fifteen residents who had been trapped on the terrace were rescued while others managed to escape through the smokefilled buildingThe deceased child and adult were identified as Abir Batavia and Ankita Chetri respectively Four of the injured were admitted to Nanavati Hospital and were reported to be stable and discharged on Tuesday night itself while two others including a fire official were treated at Cooper Hospital and discharged after treatmentShanta Bhuvan building on Baptista Road in Vile Parle West on Wednesday morning after the fire was doused PICRITIKA GONDHALEKARThe blaze was brought under control around 1225 am on Wednesday and was completely extinguished by about 1 am Fire officials said the fire was confined to electrical wiring and installations an airconditioning unit and household articles spread across nearly 4000 square feetThe flatAn official from the fire departmentrsquos rescue team stated that the preliminary investigation and witness statements had revealed that the fire had begun at the Batavia residence on the 11th floor and had later progressed towards their neighboursrsquo houses ldquoThe Bataviasrsquo flat was occupied by five people Hiren Batavia his son Parth grandson Abir granddaughter Milli and a domestic helper Ankita Chetri The fire had begun in the hall of the apartmentrdquo he saidStruggle for survivalFirefighters wrap up after normalcy is restored PICSARTHAK MEHTAldquoHiren and his granddaughter were able to escape in the nick of time but not the other three who were in bedrooms Parth was rescued by firefighters just as he was about to lose consciousness Ankita and Abir were brought out from the other bedroom and rushed to Nanavati Hospital but they were declared dead on arrival We also helped evacuate the building using the stairs rescuing an elderly wheelchair userrdquo said the officialThe originAs Khanolkar senior station officer Andheri fire station said ldquoAnkita Chetri had left a hot clothes iron on some garments and moved out of the room for a few minutes The appliance began emitting heavy smoke and within minutes caught fire The room soon turned into a smokehouse She must have panicked and entered the room to save the babyHowever the door must have got locked because it was in that state when we reached the spot After we broke the door open we saw that none of the windows or ventilator shafts had been opened Rather Ankita had locked herself along with the baby inside the bathroom from where we rescued them The fire also reached the AC which could have worsened the situation Our preliminary investigation is based on statements given by witnesses and our assessment A final conclusion is yet to be arrived atThe victimsgtgt Abir Batavia 25 deceasedgtgt Ankita Chetri 23 deceasedgtgt Parth Batavia 32 treated and dischargedgtgt Hiren Batavia 64 treated and dischargedgtgt Yashasvi Batavia 33 treated and dischargedgtgt Abishek Agrawal treated and dischargedgtgt Firefighter Manoj Sonavane 30 Treated and dischargedgtgt Shivam Dwivedi 29 Treated and dischargedEyewitness SpeakVengil Jesinto 68 neighbourlsquoI was on my way to my home when I noticed the fire around 930 pm Flames could be seen coming out of both north and southfacing windows of the buildingrsquos topmost floor Fire brigade arrived and set up their ladder to begin drousing the fire Around 1030 pm a firefighter rushed towards an ambulance A crowd had surrounded the vehicle and those who got a peek told me that he had a small child in his hands Later we got to know that the boy tragically passedrsquoVishal Pandya Shanta Bhuvan residentlsquoAs soon as we realised that there was a fire on the 11th floor we hurriedly evacuated the building Many of us have temporarily moved out until the electricity is restoredrsquoWoman who works in nearby flatlsquoI saw huge flames coming out of the windows of the topmost floor of this building around 10 pm Panic had spread among the buildingrsquos residents The fire brigade arrived shortly afterrsquopopcorn number1225 AM descTime on Wednesday when fire was brought under control classDefault