Massive fire breaks out in Mumbai chawl on Diwali; teen dies

Representative photo

A 15-year-old boy died and three others were injured after a fire broke out in a chawl in south Mumbai on Monday.

Accordinf to media reports, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said the fire was reported around 4.15 am in a chawl at Macchimaar Nagar along the Captain Prakash Pethe Marg. The fire, locals said, broke out much earlier inside a one-plus-one storey chawl structure tucked inside a narrow lane of the Macchimar colony.

“The blaze remained confined to electric wiring, electrical installations, batteries of electrical vehicles, household articles such as clothes, utensils, etc, in a small area on the first floor of the chawl,” a BMC official was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.

Civic officials said the blaze was controlled by 4.35 am before it spread across the colony with the fire extinguished. Four persons who sustained injuries were taken to the nearby BMC-run St George hospital, where one victim was declared dead.

The deceased was identified as Yash Vishal Khot. The injured are Viraj Khot, 13, Sangram Kurne, 25, and Devendra Choudhary, 30. While Choudhary’s condition remains critical, Viraj Khot and Kurne are said to be stable and under observation at the hospital.

Nestled beside the towering high-rises of Cuffe Parade and Nariman Point, Machhimaar Nagar is a small fishing village that has long been home to Mumbai’s oldest indigenous community — the Kolis. Yet, unlike the bustling Koliwadas of Worli and Versova that attract throngs of tourists, Machhimaar Nagar has remained largely overlooked, functioning mainly as a jetty and an informal space where boats are docked and repaired.

As per the newspaper, the BMC had launched a beautification project in the area to revamp and develop it as a tourist destination but the locality is yet to reap the benefits of the plan.