Pregnant woman, 2 kids charred in fire

Fire brigade personnel on the site of a cylinder blast in Parksite, Vikhroli on Saturday. A pregnant woman along with her two sons died in the incident — Asian Age

A pregnant woman and her two children were charred to death when a slum structure located at Vikhroli Parksite caught fire on Saturday afternoon.

According to the fire brigade officials, the fire broke out at a ground plus one structure at Anandgadh Naka area in Vikhroli Parksite at about 3.30 pm. It worsened due to cylinder blasts, due to which Salma Belim (35) and her two sons Muhammad (10) and Mehraj (15) died on the spot. Salma was eight months pregnant.

Vikroli Parksite police officials said the structure was rented to Salim Belim, who runs a bed shop at the ground floor with his family residing on the upper floor. While Salim and his elder daughter Salia escaped the fire, the other three were not so fortunate.

“Primary investigation has revealed the fire was caused due to short circuit. We received a fire call and within 10 minutes we reached there. Fire brigade officers carried out the rescue operations and brought out the bodies,” said a police official.

After the fire broke out, beds stored at the ground floor shop caught fire. Salia immediately came down to help her father, who was on the ground floor. But the flames soon reached the upper floor, where Salma and her two children were resting after lunch. There were two gas cylinders on the upper floor, which exploded one after the other due to the fire.

Salim’s relative Muhammad Hussain said, “Salim and his family was living in this area for the past 40 years. As he didn’t have an own house, he used to rent places, where he can run his shop and live too.”

Vijay Padwal, a neighbour of the victims, alleged that the fire brigade reached the fire spot about half an hour late. “Salim started screaming after a short circuit occurred, but he could not control the fire. We called the fire brigade and started dousing the fire with the help of water and sand. Had the fire brigade managed to reach early, the deceased’s lives would perhaps have been saved,” he said.