At the hospital, victims recall timely escape from the 13th floor

According to the fire brigade, 27 people were rescued from the building within half an hour of the fire being reported

Mumbai: A combination of fear and relief hung in the air at the Hindu Hruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Hospital’s intensive care unit on Thursday afternoon as nine people who had narrowly escaped the fire at JMS Business Centre in Jogeshwari lay recuperating.

The physiotherapist, 48-year-old Salim Javed, recalled everyone panicking. He fell unconscious while climbing down the stairs and was carried down by the fire brigade, he said. (Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times)

“When we heard the glass windows beneath cracking, we were sure this would be our last day,” said Nadeem Abu Bhati, 43, speaking in excited bursts, his hands and clothes covered in soot.

Bhati was then holed up at the physiotherapy clinic on the 13th floor with his 60-year-old father Abu Hussain, paralysed recently following a brain hemorrhage, and several other patients.

“First, we smelt the smoke,” said Bhati, who had been visiting the clinic daily of late with his father. The crowd in the commercial building was thinner than usual, he said, likely because it was the first half of the day and many establishments were shut on account of the festive season.

“To figure out what was happening, someone opened a window, which proved to be a mistake as smoke came flooding in, choking us,” he said. “All of us made calls to alert our families and friends.”

The physiotherapist, 48-year-old Salim Javed, recalled everyone panicking.

“I made sure everyone had clothes and blankets to cover their noses, and sprayed water everywhere,” said the physiotherapist who likely inhaled the maximum smoke, holding his oxygen mask aside. “We closed all the windows and packed ourselves in.”

Javed and a patient, Wasim Khan, then ran up to the terrace above, as did Nazir Shaikh from the cupping therapy coaching centre on the other side of the floor which was less exposed to the fire. But they found the door locked.

“When they came down again, hoping to find something to break the door with, the smoke had thickened so much that we couldn’t even see our fingers,” Bhati recalled. As per his estimate, there were 11 people in the clinic then, though Javed pegged the number at seven.

Around half an hour after Bhati and others first noticed the flames, they saw some fire brigade personnel spraying water into the affected floors. Videos of the incident circulating on social media showed Javed sticking his head out of the clinic’s window, trying to attract the attention of the fire brigade personnel.

“It was only after they sprayed water that we could breathe,” said Bhati.

The fire brigade personnel rescued three persons from the 13th floor using hydraulic platforms while the remaining people climbed down to the 12th floor, said Bhati. Three more people were rescued from the 12th floor via an external ladder and the others were escorted to safety via the staircase, he added.

“I fell unconscious while climbing down the stairs and was carried down by the fire brigade,” said Javed as he coughed up soot, hours after he had been rescued. Thursday was his last day at the building as the lease for his clinic was due to expire, and he had planned to pack up his belongings and equipment after catering to the patients, he said.

According to the fire brigade, 27 people were rescued from the building within half an hour of the fire being reported. Among those rescued, 17 were taken to the HBT Trauma Care Hospital for treatment.

“The patients were suffocated and anxious, so we checked them and gave them some oxygen,” said the hospital’s medical superintendent, Pravin Bangar.

Eight patients were discharged against medical advice after preliminary treatment, perhaps because they wanted to seek treatment elsewhere, Bangar said.

Nine remaining patients, including Bhati, his father and Javed, were kept under observation through the day. As their condition was stable, they were all discharged in the evening, the superintendent added.