- Destiny has its way of giving fury, they say. This was proved on Friday in the fire that broke out at Kamala Mills compound inside porch 1Above restaurant and then spreading to the rest of the area.
- But what seemed to be one of the saddest parts of the whole event was 14 people who were rushed to KEM Hospital, all of whose bodies were found at the end of the rescue operation, locked up in the toilet.
Hemant Parab, deputy chief fire officer, Byculla, Mumbai Fire Brigade said, “All the 14 were found in the toilet. They were unconscious when rescued. They tried to save themselves from the fire but died due to suffocation.”
“All these 14 people tried to save themselves from the fire by hiding in the toilet. This could be because of no proper ventilation and mixture of chemical gases which led to suffocation and their death eventually. It seems like the proper way of evacuation was not known to the staff,” Dr Harish Pathak, head of forensic department, KEM Hospital.
Dr Rajesh Dere and his team who performed the post-mortem at KEM Hospital said, “The deaths were due to suffocation. These people would have locked themselves in order to escape fire. The smoke must have gone in their nose and mouth leading to their death.”