12 workers charred to death in Mumbai shop fire

Mumbai: At least 12 workers were killed and one injured when a massive fire broke out at a snack shop in Sakinaka-Kurla area here in the early hours today, police said. The police arrested the owner of the shop for culpable homicide tonight.

The blaze erupted in the ‘Bhanu farsan (snack) shop’ in Makaria Compound on the Khairani Road around 4.25 am following which the structure collapsed, a senior police official said. As per the official, it is suspected that a short circuit, followed by a LPG cylinder blast, triggered the fire.

At least 21 people were inside the shop when the blaze erupted, he said, adding that nine of them managed to escape, whereas 12 workers got trapped on the loft inside due to intense heat and smoke. The fire spread quickly due to the presence of electric wiring and electrical goods, huge stock of eatables and furniture inside the shop, the official said.

All the 12 workers were pulled out of the debris by fire brigade personnel and taken to the civic-run Rajawadi Hospital in suburban Ghatkopar where they were declared dead before admission, a civic official said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-10) Navinchandra Reddy told PTI that prime facie the fire started from the electrical switch board and it spread in the shop following which there was an LPG gas cylinder blast.

Police called forensic science experts to ascertain the exact cause of the fire. Of the 12 deceased, identity of 10 has been ascertained so far, a police officer said, adding that the injured have been admitted to the Rajawadi hospital.

Late in tonight, the Sakinaka police arrested shop owner Ramesh Bhanushali under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code.