A deadly fire broke out at a hotel in Kandivli in Mumbai in the early hours of Monday, trapping its occupants for hours. The fire erupted in a false ceiling on the fourth floor of the five-storey building around 4:14 am and later spread to an adjoining hotel and a nearby fruit stall.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) personnel rescued 11 people and brought the Mumbai hotel fire under control at around 6.42 am after a 2-hour-long firefighting operation. While the fire had remained confined to the fourth floor initially, it spread rapidly due to wooden furniture, clothes and other flammable items.

“Initially, the blaze remained confined within the electrical wiring of the building and further intensified due to the presence of flammable items like wooden furniture, clothing items, tarpaulin sheets, bamboo and plastic materials,” an official from the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) said.

Kandivali hotel fire

When the fire broke out at the Mumbai hotel, as many as 15 guests were staying on the fourth floor. While some managed to escape, 11 got trapped in thick smoke that had spread on all the floors of the establishment. The fire brigade officials later rescued them through internal corridors.

An investigation has been initiated to ascertain if the Mumbai hotel had fire safety mechanisms in place.

Monday’s hotel fire comes days after two, including a two-and-a-half-year-old child, lost their lives in a blaze that erupted at a residential building at Mumbai’s Vile Parle. The preliminary investigation suggested that the blaze at the residential building likely originated from the electrical wiring system and remained confined within electrical installations, wiring, and air conditioning (AC) units.