A teenager died while three others were injured after a fire broke out at a chawl in south Mumbai in the early hours of Monday.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the fire was reported around 4.15 am in a chawl at Macchimaar Nagar along the Captain Prakash Pethe Marg. The fire, locals said, broke out much earlier inside a one-plus-one storey chawl structure tucked inside a narrow lane of the Macchimar colony.
“The blaze remained confined to electric wiring, electrical installations, batteries of electrical vehicles, household articles such as clothes, utensils, etc, in a small area on the first floor of the chawl,” a BMC official said.
Civic officials said even the blaze was controlled before it spread across the colony with the fire extinguished by 4.35 am. Four persons who sustained injuries were taken to the nearby BMC-run St George hospital, where one victim was declared dead.
The deceased was identified as Yash Vishal Khot, 15. The injured are Viraj Khot, 13, Sangram Kurne, 25, and Devendra Choudhary, 30. While Choudhary’s condition remains critical, Viraj Khot and Kurne are reportedly stable and under observation at the hospital.
Sharing its boundaries with the high-rises of Cuffe Parade and Nariman Point, Machhimaar Nagar is a quaint fishing village that has been home to the city’s oldest indigenous community – Kolis – for several decades. However, unlike Koliwadas in Worli and Versova which draw huge influx of tourists, Machhimaar Nagar has largely remained neglected and operates as a jetty and an unorganised space wherein boats are parked and repaired.
In a bid to revamp the area and develop it as a tourist destination, the BMC had launched a beautification project in the area but the locality is yet to reap the benefits of the plan.
