Kamala Mills fire: Know the story behind this picture

The fire that broke out at Kamala Mills has rattled the country. Fourteen people have died and several have sustained burn injuries after the incident was reported just after midnight at 1Above, a Mumbai resto-bar located inside the mill’s premises.

Cops from the Worli police station, which is the closest to the mill compound, were the first to arrive at the spot, along with the local fire brigade that began to douse the flames. 

One cop, Sudarshan Shinde, was one of the first to reach the spot and managed to pull out three bodies even before the stretchers arrived.

Hauling one body at a time on his shoulders, Shinde pulled three victims from the rubble. According to eyewitnesses, he climbed up seven floors each time to bring down the bodies. 

“When I reached upstairs, everything was burnt and charred. When I reached down, I could hear exploding sounds. Which I feel were of alcohol bottles and gas cylinders. There were several hookahs that added to the intensity of the flames. I could see only one woman coughing. The rest, I believe, may have died of suffocation,” said Shinde while speaking to DNA.

The woman in the picture was coughing, according to Shinde, and was eventually put in an ambulance. She even waved to her friends singnalling that she was fine. However, she died on the way to hospital, Shinde added.

Shinde isn’t the only person, who should be hailed for his heroics. Suraj Giri and Mahesh Sable, working security guards at Times Now, saw the fire break out just after midnight. Sabke told DNA that a number of patrons at 1 Above, the nightclub that caught fire, could not escape because the flames had blocked their path.

Twenty-five-year old Sable, while speaking to DNA said that the Times Now office, and the nightclub were part of Trade House in Kamala Mills, which means that they were all interconnected. "I was at the link room when I saw the fire break out. The regular exit had been blocked, as a lot of cloth that made up the decor for the nightclub caught fire. I then went to another terrace and directed patrons to escape from there," he said.

The blaze that started at 1 Above, the rooftop pub, spread rapidly through the building, killing 14 people, most of them women, who were attending a birthday party. Read that article here

The fire, which also injured 21 people, started after 12.30 am in the "1 Above" pub on the terrace, and spread to Mojo pub on the third floor one level below, said a civic official.