Kandivali blaze claims four lives

Mumbai: Four men, including a 51-year-old senior citizen, were charred to death in a fire that gutted a cloth godown in suburban Kandivali on Sunday, revealed officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

According to the civic disaster management unit, the Kandivali blaze was reported in the godown, located in Damu Nagar near MIDC bus stop, at around 4 pm.  The city also witnessed two more incidents of fire in suburban Khar and Mahim Sunday in which two persons were critically injured.

“Four casualties were recovered from the debris of the godown by fire personnel who were conducting firefighting operations till 5 am on Monday,” said a senior official from the disaster cell. The deceased were taken to Shatabdi Hospital, where the doctors declared them brought dead. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

A senior fire official revealed that search operations are being conducted in the storeroom premises of the godown. The deceased have been identified as Raju Vishwa-karma (30), Rajesh Vish-wakarma (36), Bhavesh Parekh (51) and Sudama Lallansimgh (36).

The official said prima facie the deceased are workers.

In another incident in Mahim, a blaze occurred in a slum near Raheja Hospital, in which a 14-year-old boy and a 50-year-old woman received serious burn injuries.