Fire breaks out at artificial jewellery shop in Mumbai's Bhuleshwar; fire brigade, BEST at spot

A fire broke out in an artificial jewellery shop in Mumbai's Bhuleshwar area at around 10.30 am on Thursday, October 22. The shop is in 3rd Bhoiwada. Several agencies reached the spot on getting news of the fire and began efforts to bring it under control.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) fire brigade and a BEST team are among those at the spot. According to preliminary information, the fire is said to have been caused by heat and a short circuit. The fire is spreading slowly, so officials are stepping up efforts to stop it from advancing.

A post said the fire broke out at around 10 am in a three-storey building housing jewellery shops. The building is at No. 2, Kakakava Building, 3rd Bhoiwada, Bhuleshwar. Firefighters are at work putting out the fire, and further information is awaited.

BEST officials have also reached the area to cut the power supply as a precaution. Electricity is being switched off in the surrounding area to avoid any further electrical hazard and to keep the firefighters safe.

An employee said: "I live in Dombivli and my shop is on the fourth floor of this building. I arrived at around 11.05 am and saw that there was a fire. We all work together in my shop. From here it looked as if the poster put up below caught fire and the flames climbed up from there. We do jewellery work, gold work."

Information on the extent of the damage, whether anyone is injured and the cause of the fire is awaited.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, a fire broke out in a scrap godown in Abdul Rashid Compound at Saki Naka in Andheri East. According to officials, two people died and four were burnt, one of them 80 per cent. Officials said: "Two unidentified burnt bodies were found from a stock of aerosol containers and were sent to Rajawadi Hospital."

According to the BMC's latest update on Wednesday, the fire was confined to electrical wiring and installations, stocks of clothes, plastic granules, scrap, wooden furniture, empty aerosol containers, LPG cylinders, various machines, MS shutters, doors, windows, GI sheets, AC sheets, steel frames, two two-wheelers parked by the roadside and a tempo. About 60 to 70 commercial shops and chawls were affected. The structure is ground-floor, with ground-plus-one in some parts, and spreads over about 4,000 by 4,000 sq ft.

A total of six people were reported injured. Four of them were taken to Rajawadi Hospital in a police van and a private vehicle before the fire brigade arrived. Among the injured, Taufiq Shadil Qureshi, 20, has 80 per cent burns. Jahid Abidulla Qureshi, 20, and Kamal Jalauddin Shah, 47, have 40 per cent burns each. Lalchand Ramlakhan Gautam, 40, has 10 per cent burns.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) received news of the incident at 6.18 pm and declared it a Level-II fire at 6.37 pm. Firefighters, police, Adani staff, 108 ambulances and ward staff reached the spot. More information is awaited on the cause of the fire and the condition of the injured.