TWO TRAGIC FIRE ACCIDENTS JOLT DIWALI FESTIVITIES IN MAHARASHTRA

The first Diwali after the relaxations of the Pandemic should have brought better days-or so we thought. But the weekend was bad for Maharashtra as two fire accidents claimed lives and cast a pall of gloom over the festivities. The incidents come two weeks after a 30-year-old man died while 16 others were rescued after a major fire broke out on the 19th floor of a 60-storey luxury residential building in Mumbai’s Currey Road in the Lower Parel area.

In one instance 11 coronavirus patients were killed, and one person was injured after a major fire broke out at Ahmednagar District Hospital in Maharashtra on Saturday.  According to sources who spoke to newspersons soon after, 25 patients were admitted to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at the hospital, and six of them suffered serious burn injuries in the incident.

Ahmednagar district collector Rajendra Bhosale confirmed the death of 11 Covid-19 patients. Shankar Misal, chief of the fire department of Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation, said the fire erupted around 11 am on Saturday. The PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah were among the first to express their sorrow on this horrific accident.

In the second case, at least two persons were killed and another injured after a fire broke out at Hansa Heritage building in Mumbai's Kandivali on Saturday. As many as seven fire brigade vehicles were present at the spot for fire-fighting operations at the timing of penning this. "With the death of a woman, the number of deaths in Hansa Heritage building fire in Mumbai's Kandivali rises to two," the Mumbai Police said.

The question would be, were their proper exigency protocols in place in the hospital or the building? Did they have fire licenses? It is too early to say, but if you were to hazard a guess what would you say?