When fire broke out in Mumbai’s Crystal Tower on Wednesday, a 10-year-old girl Zen Sadavarte emerged as a life saver for the residents. She saved 15 lives by just applying what she had learned in her Don Bosco school lessons. “I used the knowledge given by my teachers. Despite being a child, everyone co-operated with me. They did what I asked them to do, so I could save 15 people” Zen said. She was much appreciated for her presence of mind and the way she helped others without panicking in crisis situation.
Zen stays on 16th floor of Crystal Tower with her parents, Mother Dr. Jayashree Patil and Father Adv. Gunaratna Sadavarte. She had learned in her school about disaster management from her teacher, including the lesson to remain calm and not panicking during a crisis. When flames ripped through the tower, she was sleeping on her Eid holiday. As soon her mother realized of smoke coming inside house from everywhere. “My Mother woke me up; black smoke was spread all over the house in a short span of time. I opened the door and told them to go out. I also went out and knocked neighbor’s door and informed them about fire in tower. Everyone was very scared and panic. No one had a clue about how to escape from the building” said Zen.
She further said, “I was too small to teach everyone. But I reminded what my teachers taught me to do under stress; I remembered the crisis management training given by my Miss Snehal in school. I asked my parents to bring clothes and I gathered all the neighbors together in front of my house. Then I picked up a cloth. Dipped in water and tie it on my mouth and given instructions to everyone to do the same to avoid suffocation. All of them tied the palms in the mouth.”
“There was a smoke everywhere we could not see anything. Because of the smoke there was tremendous heat. However, we got a lot of comfort from wearing cloth on the face. I asked everyone to poke down. As the smoke goes in upward direction, I asked everyone to blend to the knee; we began to descend from the building, at the time we were rolling too. The lower floor residents were asked to do the same. Because of the training given at my school and the some search on the internet on emergency management, I was able to save 15 people from my tower. In such a tense situation no one listen to anyone but thankfully everyone listen to a 10 year old girl “Zen said.
Illegal crystal tower fire: 4 dead 22 injured
Four people were killed and 22 others injured in a fire broke out at the Crystal Towers at Dadar Hindmata on Wednesday morning. The deceased include a woman and three men. The injured include 16 men and 6 women. It is just been 5 years to the construction of this building and it has now been revealed after this fire that tower is illegal. There was a famous building named ‘Supari Bagh’ in the Hindmata area. It was found to be dangerous and demolished in 2002. The 16-storey tower was built by redevelopment of this building by Supariwala Builder’s associate Razakbhai. In 2013, 58 residents were given possession of the flats. Bablu Shaikh (36), Shubhada Shirke (62), Ashok Sampat (47) and Sanjeev Nair are four died in the fire on the 12th floor of the building on Wednesday morning. This building does not have OC (possession certificate). Supariwala builder’s Razakbhai was not paying the property tax, informed the resident Nazir Sheikh. The Mumbai Municipal Corporation and the state government should make a policy against such illegal buildings, said resident Gunratna Sadavarte.
The possession of the flats in the building was given in 2013. The builder was giving us electricity and water when there was no OC. Fire Fighting system in the building was not working. A fire brigade was set up till the building of the 7th floor. Fire extinguishers were kept from 8th floor to 16th floor, but they were not installed. Recently residents had a meeting where residents had decided to spend money on firefighting machinery, lift, CCTV, said resident Anil Kale.
Case against the builder
A case has been registered against the building developer Abdul Razakbhai Ismail Supariwala in the Bhoiwada police station.
Irresponsible Builder – Dr. Jayashree Patil, The main promoter, Crystal Tower
The builder has ignored the building’s work. The society was not even established because the builder did not give us the possession of the building. So the residents have appointed me as the chief promoter. We had repeatedly told Supariwala builder’s associate Razakbhai to attend the meeting for the building’s work. But he never attended the meeting. We are living as a family with all the residents in the building. We are extremely saddened by the death of four people in our family.
Notice given to the building – Kishore Desai, Assistant Commissioner, F. South
Though the municipal corporation had given the CC certificate to the fire-brigade, the OC was not given. However, the building was occupied by residents. Thus, the Building Proposal Department had issued a notice in 2016 against the residents, owners, developers and architects, in accordance with the provisions under the Act of 353 A of the corporation. The matter is pending with Dadar Shindewadi 41 number court.
People rushed to help leaving the Eid prayers
When there are crisis in the city, people do not look for any caste and religion. The only religion works at such time is ‘Humanity’. There is a Mosque in front of the building. When fire broke out in Crystal Tower, many youngsters were reading the holy prayers of Eid. They stopped the Namaz and rushed to the tower to help residents. Because of their efforts, hundreds of residents could safely escape from the fire.
“Fire broke out at Crystal Tower at Parel at 7.45 am yesterday. When the incident happened, civilians in the building ran outside the building. But many could not come out. At the same time, the youth who were reading Namaz at the mosque on the other side of the road saw the fire on the building. After seeing the fire, they entered the house and helped many to get out. The Muslim youth showed the way to get out of the building till the fire brigade crew and police reached the spot, said Jay Shetye, who lives on the seventh floor in Crystal Tower.
Bablu who came to give Eid wishes, could not come back
Hassan Shahnaz Shaikh aka Bablu (36), a resident of Zaveri Bazar, had come to give Bakri Eid wishes & bouquet to his cousin Azharuddin Ali Shaikh (31), who lives room no. 301. After Bakri Eid’s greetings, Azharuddin, Babloo and Jahangir were chatting. At the same time, suddenly they noticed that there was a large fire on the 12th floor of the building. So when Babloo opened the door of the house, there was a lot of smoke outside. The smoke and incandescent fire caused Babbu to leave his house immediately. Jahangir also left after Bablu, but Azharuddin stopped Jahangir but could not stop Bablu. Bablu could not survive in the smoke; he collapsed and died in fire. He had come from Kolkata to work in Mumbai.
Difficulties in identifying bodies
Ashok Sampat and Sanjiv Nayar, who were found in the elevator, died due to the fierce fire that took place in the building. The body down the back of the two was completely burnt due to the increased temperature in the elevator. It was difficult to identify their bodies. Sanjiv Nayar’s body was identified from his watch and neck chain. But Ashok Sampat was difficult to identify. Therefore, the Forensic Odontology Department decided to identify him through his teeth. According to his family, front two teeth are larger than other teeth and one was filled with silver. On this basis his body was identified, informed Odontology Expert at KEM Hospital Dr. Hemlata Pandey to ‘My Mahanagar’.
One who went to help, could not return
On the 16th floor, Navin Sampat (77) and Veena Sampat (74), both elderly lived with their granddaughter. When the building was in the fire, she called her father Ashok Sampat, who lived in the neighboring building. Ashok Sampat immediately rushed to the crystal tower and reached the 16th floor. He first sent his parents and daughter down with the help of a fire brigade crane. Then Ashok was also asked to come down but he refused. As he was habitual to help others, he then moved to help everyone stuck on the floor. Since long time there was no clue where Ashok was, his family was searching him in and around. At around 3:30 pm in the afternoon, one of the unidentified bodies found revealed that Ashok was dead.
Saved as he for Namaz
Nazir Shaikh, who lives on the 11th floor, was in the mosque to read Namaj in the morning. While he was reading Namaj, he was informed by his daughter, Afrin about the fire in the building. He rushed to the building directly. There was a huge fire, but fortunately his daughter, two children and wife were safely rescued by the fire brigade. “This fire has burned all my belongings in the house. Since I went to read Namaz, I was saved. However, he expressed the feeling that I am disturbed by the death of residents” said Nazir.
If I would have arrived 20 minutes early. . .
Though I am not staying in this building, my friend Sanjeev Nair and some friends who were stranded in the elevator stays in this building, so when I got the phone call of my father, I hurried to Parel from Mahim. When I came around 9 to 9.15 AM, there was kiosk everywhere. I entered the building with the fire brigade. Fire brigade officers pulled out some people safely. Suddenly I realized if in case anyone stuck on the terrace of the building. I took the fire officers to the terrace and we found a woman and a man’s body. They sent these bodies down. Then I asked them to open elevator’s door but it was very hot so it was not possible to open the door. Therefore, they ignored the opening of the elevator door. But I did not see my friend Sanjiv anywhere, so I insisted them to open the door. Then we found 2 bodies in the elevator, of one was Sanjeev Nair, said resident Khalil Ibrahim.
