12 killed as Mumbai shop goes up in flames

At least 12 persons, including a Nepali national, were killed and another two injured when a major fire engulfed a dry snacks and sweetmeats shop here early yesterday, officials said.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s disaster control, the blaze was reported in the Bhanu Farsan shop on Khairani Road in Andheri East area, near Laxmi Narayan Temple of Sakinaka, around 4.15am.
The fire, due to a suspected short-circuit, quickly spread to huge stocks of eatables, cloth sheets, furniture and electrical fittings. So strong was the inferno that all the 12 victims were found to have 100% burns and some have yet to be identified.
One worker, identified as Akhilesh Ramkishore Tiwari, 25, who managed to jump out of a window from the burning shop suffered severe fractures in both legs, an official said.
Later the structure - where large quantities of ready-to-eat dry snacks were manufactured in an area measuring around 200 square feet, came crashing down, trapping the victims.
The bodies of the workers - all aged 30 - were taken to the Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar, for an autopsy and two are yet to be identified, said a hospital official.
The identified victims were Jitendra, Gulam, Ramnresh Gupta, Naim Salim Mirza, Wasim Salim Mirza, Bhola, Lambu, Manohar Pandit and Raju Yadav, while Lullu was a Nepalese national.
The exact cause of the fire is being investigated. Around three or four workers managed to escape to safety, local eyewitnesses said.
Three fire-tenders and four jumbo water tankers fought the blaze which did not spread and was restricted to the small shop in the congested and thickly populated locality of Andheri east and managed to extinguish it soon.
Industry studies show more than 90% of India’s workforce — an estimated 400mn people — are in informal employment. This includes labourers on farms and construction sites, as well as in shops, hotels and restaurants.
Many work in conditions that violate laws enacted decades ago to protect labour rights.
Last December, six workers locked in by their employer at a bakery in Pune died in a fire.
“This fire accident just shows how migrant workers live,” said Amrita Sharma of Aajeevika Bureau, a non-profit lobbying for migrant workers’ rights.
“They work in overcrowded, poorly ventilated spaces. Their work and living conditions are highly precarious. There is a complete void in enforcement of labour laws.”
Meanwhile, in another incident, a major fire broke out in a chemical unit in Turbhe, in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, on Sunday evening. The blaze started at the unit, located in TTC industrial area, at around 5pm.
At least six fire tenders have been rushed to the spot to douse the fire, the official said without elaborating.