Mumbai: Trapped on 7th floor, Malad couple survives fire by climbing down pipes; waited over an hour for rescue
MUMBAI: In a gritty and near-miraculous escape, a couple, aged 58 and 51, managed to survive a fire that broke out in the early hours of Wednesday in their building. Trapped in their seventh-floor apartment in Bhoomi Classic CHS, near Inorbit Mall in Malad (West), they broke open the window grills and glass of their bathroom, and climbed down two floors along the water and drainage pipes in the duct.
The two then waited there for more than an hour before firefighters brought them to safety. Two of the eight cats they had at home died in the fire, but the remaining were safely brought out by firefighters. Senior station officer AJ Jadhav suffered a ligament tear due to a fall while rescuing a 10-year-old from another floor in the same fire.
Sunil Khandpur, a Bollywood cameraman, and his wife Pooja were woken up with the smell of smoke during 4-4.30 am. "Our bedroom and hall were filled with thick smoke. When we opened the front door to escape, the corridor was also smoke-logged and unbearably hot. We could not see where the fire was coming from and had to go back in. We crawled to our children's room, which had relatively less smoke, and called for help through the windows, but no one was around in the morning hours. Since the window grills couldn't be broken, we moved to the bathroom, shattered the glass and pushed the grill. After clearing the glass shards, I slipped out to look for a way to escape. We could hear blasts and glass shattering outside and knew this was our only way out," said Khandpur.
Using the torchlight from their phone, the couple crawled out of the bathroom window and carefully climbed down the pipes to the sixth floor. Realizing the heat was intense there and likely the source of the fire, they continued down to the fifth floor, where crossed pipes gave them space to stand. "Luckily, a water pipeline from the seventh floor above us burst, and water started pouring over our heads. We believe it was Ganpati Bappa's grace as it gave us relief from the heat until the firefighters reached us," said Khandpur. While their elder daughter is married and their pet dog went with her to spend the night, their younger one was out celebrating Diwali with her friends.
Station officer Ashish Kesarkar and VN Tekwade, along with Jadhav, was part of a team led by assistant divisional fire officer MN Dhonde, managed to rescue a total of seven persons, besides the cats.
The two then waited there for more than an hour before firefighters brought them to safety. Two of the eight cats they had at home died in the fire, but the remaining were safely brought out by firefighters. Senior station officer AJ Jadhav suffered a ligament tear due to a fall while rescuing a 10-year-old from another floor in the same fire.
Sunil Khandpur, a Bollywood cameraman, and his wife Pooja were woken up with the smell of smoke during 4-4.30 am. "Our bedroom and hall were filled with thick smoke. When we opened the front door to escape, the corridor was also smoke-logged and unbearably hot. We could not see where the fire was coming from and had to go back in. We crawled to our children's room, which had relatively less smoke, and called for help through the windows, but no one was around in the morning hours. Since the window grills couldn't be broken, we moved to the bathroom, shattered the glass and pushed the grill. After clearing the glass shards, I slipped out to look for a way to escape. We could hear blasts and glass shattering outside and knew this was our only way out," said Khandpur.
Using the torchlight from their phone, the couple crawled out of the bathroom window and carefully climbed down the pipes to the sixth floor. Realizing the heat was intense there and likely the source of the fire, they continued down to the fifth floor, where crossed pipes gave them space to stand. "Luckily, a water pipeline from the seventh floor above us burst, and water started pouring over our heads. We believe it was Ganpati Bappa's grace as it gave us relief from the heat until the firefighters reached us," said Khandpur. While their elder daughter is married and their pet dog went with her to spend the night, their younger one was out celebrating Diwali with her friends.
Station officer Ashish Kesarkar and VN Tekwade, along with Jadhav, was part of a team led by assistant divisional fire officer MN Dhonde, managed to rescue a total of seven persons, besides the cats.
Next Story