If it hadn’t been for Constable Sudarshan Shinde, the devastating fire at Kamala Mills that took the lives of 14 people and injured several others, could have left behind a higher death toll.
A picture of Shinde carrying a woman out of the burning room on his shoulders has gone viral on social media. The 35-year old Constable, who is a part of the Worli police, had reportedly carried a few of the victims downstairs to safety on his shoulders, Mumbai Mirror reported.
According to DNA newspaper, Shinde had pulled out about three such people from the rubble before the stretches had even arrived. He had run up seven flights of stairs each time to help the victims.
For his bravery, he was felicitated by Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar and Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar.
In an interview to NDTV, Shinde said:
It’s nice to be acknowledged on the first day of the year, but I am sad that those 14 people couldn’t be saved.
Shinde told Mumbai Mirror that he was on night-shift at the time of the incident and was just about to set up a nakabandi at Haji Ali Sea Face, when he and his team at the Worli police station received the call regarding the fire.
We immediately left for Kamala Mills. There was a huge fire on the terrace. There was a lot of smoke, but we managed to find a staircase.Sudarshan Shinde told Mumbai Mirror
Shinde also told NDTV that he reached the spot to find people screaming and crying for their loved ones.
There were many ambulances, fire engines and police cars. People were screaming and crying for help. Their loved ones were trapped. A huge fire on the terrace was visible from a distance. I saw that the firemen were using the exit stairs to go to the terrace and decided to join them,Sudarshan Shinde to NDTV
Once he reached there, however, he told NDTV, it was a challenge to breathe or keep his eyes open since the entire area was eveloped in thick, black smoke. The fire team broke open the exit door and tried to control the fire and since their were no stretchers they had to carry people down on their shoulders.
“When I reached upstairs, everything was burnt and charred. When I came down, I could hear exploding sounds, which I feel were of alcohol bottles and gas cylinders. There were several hookahs that added to the intensity of the flames. I could see only one woman coughing. The rest, I believe, may have died of suffocation,” he told DNA. The doctors confirmed that all victims had died due to suffocation.
Shinde wasn’t the only one trying to save the lives of the people caught in the fire. According to DNA, two security guards at Times Now, Suraj Giri and Mahesh Sable, saw the fire break out right after midnight and tried to help the ones stuck inside. The Times Now building and 1 Above were reportedly interconnected, as they were both part of the Trade House in Kamala Mills.
I was at the link room when I saw the fire break out. The regular exit had been blocked, as a lot of cloth that made up the decor for the nightclub caught fire. I then went to another terrace and directed patrons to escape from there.Mahesh Sable told DNA
The fire had reportedly broken out a little after midnight in a pub called 1 Above and spread rapidly. While two of the managers of the club have been arrested and booked under various charges, the hunt for the main culprits, the two pub-owners, is still on.
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