Inferno consumes Linking Road shopping complex, rages for 12 hours

MUMBAI: A fire tore through a three-storey shopping complex on Linking Road in Bandra West on Tuesday, and raged for over 12 hours before it was contained at around 4.30 pm. According to preliminary investigations, the blaze started at around 4 am in the Croma outlet in the basement of the Link Square shopping complex, owned by former MLA Zeeshan Siddique.

The fire is suspected to have been sparked by a short circuit. As the flames quickly climbed all three storeys and leapt from the gutted roof, they destroyed every shop in the complex. No injuries or casualties were reported.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade received a distress call at 4:11 am and rushed to the site. After the fire spread from the basement to the top three storeys at 4:28am, it was declared at Level 2 fire. At 4:49am, it was declared a Level 3 fire, and at 6:25am, a Level 4 fire.

Around 12 fire tenders and 35 fire tenders wrestled to bring the blaze under control but it refused to be tamed. Many residents in the vicinity woke up to the smell of smoke in their homes; others in buildings in the fire’s line of sight, panicked on seeing giant flames and a burning building.

“We are just two lanes from Link Square and our windows face the building. Early in the morning, the smoke entered our home. It was suffocating. We shut our windows but that didn’t really help,” said Rajeev Thakkar, a resident.

The fire brigade and police shut all the streets in the vicinity, leaving Linking Road, one of Mumbai’s favourite and busiest destinations for street shopping, oddly deserted all day. The area was cordoned off, all commercial establishments remained shut, and residents from nearby buildings stood at their windows and watched in horror as flames continued to engulf the shopping complex, sending plumes of thick, black smoke billowing upwards.

Zeeshan Siddique, whose family owns Link Square, was very angry. “There was just a small fire in the basement at 4am, which could have easily been controlled. But the fire brigade did not have proper equipment, and even when they did, they did not use it properly,” Siddique told the media.

However, chief fire officer, Mumbai Fire Brigade, Ravindra Ambulgekar denied these charges. “The fire spread because the building was poorly ventilated. Also, there was combustible material such as leather, plastic, fabric and paper in all the shops, which fuelled the fire. In addition, the smoke from all the goods lowered visibility, due to which our fire fighters faced difficulties.”

Shop owners who operated garment stores in the complex were worried about losses they had incurred. Taukir Khan, who owned two shops, said, “We had huge stocks in both shops. Since it is the month-end, there was cash as well. Luckily, I made the rent payment on Friday, not wanting to keep cash on the weekend but it was a time to start tallying. All our merchandise is gutted and we are yet to assess the full extent of our loss.”

Similarly, Jitendra Pise and Amol Mule, who ran an accessories store right next to the Croma store, where the blaze started, incurred a loss of over ₹80 lakh.

Babulal Paswan, the security guard of the shopping complex, said he was sleeping on the first floor after his shift ended when the fire broke out. “I could smell some smoke, so I went downstairs to check. I saw the fire but could not try to douse it because the store was locked. Also, none of the guards was allowed to keep the keys to the store,” he said.

Eventually, the fire was doused and the fire brigade started cooling operations at 5pm.

“The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was mobilised in case the building collapsed, or the fire spread further but they were kept in reserve, said an official with the fire brigade.