AHMEDABAD: Frantic scenes unfolded at Parishkar Apartments in Khokhra on Friday afternoon after a fire erupted on the fifth floor of Block C.
No casualties were reported, but the blaze, which reportedly started in the building’s cable chute, fanned chaos and panic as residents made desperate and dangerous attempts to escape while onlookers below watched in horror.
Eighteen people were rescued by fire brigade personnel, with some residents suffering minor injuries.
Officials said the fire started in a pile of garbage that residents had thrown into the cable chute, and was fuelled by the building’s live power supply. Within minutes, the upper floors of the 12-storeyed building were covered by rising columns of thick black smoke from the fire which could be seen raging inside the chute through its vents. The heat melted the chute’s metal doors and damaged apartment doors.
As heat and smoke filled even the lower floors, residents were seen trying to escape the building from balconies on staircase landings. In a heart-stopping moment captured on video, a woman and two children are seen surviving a brush with death.
The woman one by one held the two young children by their arms over a fourth-floor balcony wall while calling for help. Two men who rushed to the floor below, are seen in the video precariously balancing themselves on the balcony’s parapet and catching the children as she drops them one after the other into their waiting arms.
The woman herself came dangerously close to falling when she hung from the balcony wall in a bid to land on the floor below her but missed her footing. Rescuers caught her by the ankles just in time as she fell head-first. Residents assisted one another in the evacuation as flames reached almost every floor, consuming the building’s electric cabling and everything else in their path. Unable to see due to the thick smoke, people groped along walls to find their way down the building stairs.
Eyewitnesses described a scene of chaos and urgency as people waved from balconies, screaming for help while some scrambled for exits before the arrival of the fire brigade.
As fire in the main electric line posed an added risk to rescue operations, Torrent Power was contacted to immediately cut off supply to prevent more serious damage. Teams from the Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) reached the site promptly and started evacuating residents using ladders and breathing gear. Nearly seven fire tenders took around two hours to douse the fire and rescue people.
AFES and police have started a detailed probe into the cause of the fire and are assessing the structural safety of the affected floors. Families from the affected block have moved in with friends and relatives. For others, arrangements of food and stay have been made at the society gym.
