350 people rescued from huge fire in Thane mall, blaze put out

A massive blaze broke out on Saturday afternoon in a mall in Thane in Maharashtra and over 100 firefighters rescued 350 people from the building and brought it under control by 5 pm, an official said.

The fire broke out at 1:50 pm on the first floor of the mall situated in Kapurbawdi area here and was labelled a 'brigade call', the highest categorisation in terms of intensity of a fire, after it spread to three upper floors leading to deployment of 20 engines and tankers, said Thane Municipal Corporation chief fire officer Shashikant Kale.

"More than 100 personnel from the fire brigade brought it under control by 5 pm. We managed to rescue all 350 people in the mall at the time of the blaze. Firefighter RK Shelar complained of breathlessness during dousing operations and was rushed to the hospital," Kale informed.

"A man identified as Namdev Zore (49) was stuck on the fourth floor and firefighters had to work very quickly to rescue him, which they managed successfully," he added.

The fire destroyed a large part of the four-storeyed mall which houses several offices, and a probe had begun to ascertain the cause, Kale said.