Mumbai: Major fire at Andheri market, no casualties reported

A major fire occurred at a commercial cum residential building ‘Guru Nagar’ at Four Bungalows market in Andheri West, Mumbai. At least five fire tenders and three ambulances were at the spot.

At least six shops, which include a jewellery store, a pharmacy and a hardware store, were gutted in the fire. According to residents present at the site, the fire occurred at around 1 am in the morning after an air-conditioner in one of the stores exploded. The cause of the fire, however, is still to be officially confirmed.

According to Regional Fire Officer Ashok Bangar, the fire started from the ground floor where the shops are located and was rapidly spreading. “We are still to find out the cause of the fire… work is still going on… As of now there are no casualties but, we are still searching the entire building.”

“I don’t know what to do tomorrow… all that I had was here and now it’s all gone. Forget about me, my brother’s stall has also been gutted in the fire, and he has gone home to our native village. It’s his wedding tomorrow,” a fruit vendor, who could not be immediately identified, said.

Anand Sharma, who owns a restaurant Sharma Dairy in the same building, said the fire officials took over half an hour to reach the venue despite it being 1 am in the morning. “I saw smoke coming out of the building and I rushed down… when we reached down the fire had already spread… the fire tenders reached half an hour late… we don’t know the loss.”

When this reporter reached the spot at 1.15 am the fire had already spread and locals were seen dousing the fire with water from a tanker they stopped.  The fire tender arrived at around 1.45 am.