Major fire at Mumbai's Bandra mall doused after 22-hour operation

A major fire that devastated a mall in Mumbai's upscale Bandra area was controlled after more than 22 hours of firefighting, civic officials said on Wednesday.

The blaze erupted around 4.10 am on Tuesday in the basement of Link Square Mall on Linking Road in Bandra West and was extinguished at 1.41 am on Wednesday after efforts by fire brigade personnel and other emergency services, the officials said.

There was no report of anybody getting injured, they said.

Initially confined to an electronics goods showroom, the flames quickly engulfed the upper floors of the three-storey mall, which houses over 200 commercial establishments and shops, and completely gutted it.

By 6.25 am on Tuesday, the Mumbai fire brigade upgraded the blaze to Level IV' (major fire) and launched a large-scale response. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) also joined the operation subsequently.

After about 13 hours, the fire brigade controlled the fire with the help of 13 fire engines and other firefighting vehicles and equipment. Thereafter, efforts were made to douse it completely, a civic official said.

Ravindra Ambulgekar, chief of the Mumbai fire brigade, has already announced an inquiry into the incident, the cause of which is yet to be ascertained.

He had told PTI on Tuesday that the mall was full of combustible material and there was no easy access. Partitions obstructed firefighting, and fire and smoke spread from one shop to another due to mesh shutters, making the situation difficult, Ambulgekar had said.

Earlier, former legislator Zeeshan Siddique had claimed that the fire spread due to lapses on the fire brigade's part, following which local BJP MLA and Maharashtra cabinet minister Ashish Shelar said he had instructed civic chief Bhushan Gagrani to institute a comprehensive inquiry into the incident.

This was the second major fire incident in Mumbai within two days, after a blaze on Sunday in a building housing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Ballard Estate.