3 Killed In Blaze At Express Towers

Three persons were killed in a massive fire which broke out in the top floors of the 25-storeyed Express Towers building at Nariman Point in south Mumbai yesterday. Fire brigade sources said the toll could rise.

The conflagration broke out around 8.30 a.m. on the 21st floor and soon spread to the three floors above it. The fire raged on for about five hours.

The building houses the offices both editorial and administrative, of the Indian Express, head office of the Bank of India, Bank of America, Pfizer and several tourist and airline officers.

All three bodies were recovered from the 23rd floor of the building, where the Pfizer is situated.

 

The identity of the victims, have not been established so far. The injured were shifted to St George and G T Hospital, fire brigade sources said.

Around 100 fire brigade personnel with 14 officers, led by deputy chief officer M G Sarkhot, brought the blaze under control after five hours.

Twenty-two persons who had been trapped on the floors engulfed by fire were rescued. A navy chopper and a coast guard helicopter had to be requisitioned to assist the fire brigade in the rescue operation.

The computer reservation systems of several major airlines and leading travel agencies were hit as all the channels of Sita (Societe Internationale de Telecommunication Aeronautique) communication centre, located on the 24th floor, were destroyed in the blaze, according to the fire control.

Fire brigade personnel, who were struggling to control the blaze, found it extremely difficult to spray water since the tallest snorkel they possessed could reach a height of only 60 metres, much below the affected floors.

Later, fire brigade personnel carried out fire-fighting operations from the 19th floor of the adjacent Air India building, which was evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Vivek Goenka, chairman and managing editor of the Indian Express group of publications, who stays at a penthouse on the topmost floor of the building, rushed down at the sounding of the fire alarm and escaped unhurt. The cause of the fire has not yet been ascertained, fire brigade sources said.