| Three die in Maharashtra secretariat blaze |
MUMBAI Three people were killed and 16 others were injured when a major fire swept the Maharashtra secretariat here on Thursday, with officials saying the blaze was under control but yet to be fully doused.
Three charred bodies were recovered from outside Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s office on the sixth floor of the secretariat as fire fighters were still engaged in combating the fire that gutted four floors of the building. “Three dead bodies - both males - have been found outside an office on the sixth floor,” a fire official said late on Thursday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan earlier said that the massive fire that gutted most of the top four floors was now under control. He also ordered a probe by the Crime Branch.
Chavan, who held an emergency meeting in the evening, discussed the situation with other ministers and planned alternative arrangements for ministers to function till the situation normalised at the state government’s administrative headquarters.
“An inquiry has been ordered. Crime Branch will start an inquiry into the matter,” Chavan told reporters after the meeting.
“It (the blaze) started on fourth floor from room No. 411,” he said.
Chief secretary J Banthia had also announced at a press conference in the afternoon that all the employees had been evacuated.
Officials said 16 people had suffered varying injuries, with six officials warded in hospitals.
Tribal Welfare Minister Babanrao Pachpute was among the first to try to fight the massive fire, before realising its extent and escaping. “I was working in my chamber. Suddenly, I heard an explosion and saw a lot of smoke coming out,” Pachpute, whose office is on the fourth floor, told media persons. Some employees escaped via pipes and cables outside.
“I climbed down a water pipe to escape the flames,” said a breathless man who said that others made similar attempts to escape by clutching to thick electricity cables and drainage pipes.
There were frightening scenes as employees, including women, in the higher floors frantically tried to get out.
Many crowded balconies or perched on window sills and on ledges outside the windows. All of them were taken down by the Mumbai Fire Service using lift ladders. A total of 21 fire tenders fought the fire which first broke out on the floor four at 2.15pm, as thick dark clouds of smoke billowed from the windows, darkening the Mumbai sky.
Rescue workers appealed to those trapped to get to the roof for rescue by navy helicopters. Several Marine Commandos joined the rescue operations.
Meanwhile, all the relevant documents related to the Adarsh housing scam are safe with the Central Bureau of Investigation and not destroyed in the massive blaze, said an agency official.
Agencies
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