Two killed, 11 hurt in Mumbai slum fire

Two persons were charred to death and eleven others injured in a major blaze that gutted over 1000 hutments in a huge slum colony located in suburban Kandivali on Monday, police said.
The fire engulfed an area of 500x1000 square metres and over 1000 hutments situated on its periphery were gutted, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) said in a release.
“Two persons were brought dead to hospital. While one of them has been identified as Prahlad Kharat (45), the identity of the other is being ascertained,” the MCGM stated.
Although the exact cause of the mishap is not known, local residents claim that the blaze occurred due to a series of cylinder explosions in the hutments.
Among those injured, 10 persons have sustained minor injuries while one person’s condition is stated to be serious with 30 per cent burns. - PTI
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One killed in ??Mumbai? slum fire
One person was killed and three others, including a woman, were injured when a major fire broke out on Monday at a slum in suburban Kandivili here. 
Deputy Chief Fire Official P S Rahangdale said that at least 16 fire engines, 12 water tankers, five fire brigade officials along with jawans have been rushed to the spot to douse the flames. 
The deceased person was charred beyond recognition and has not been identified yet but the injured have been admitted to nearby Shatabdi hospital, DCP Dhananjay Kulkarni said. 
Although the exact cause of fire is not known, local residents claim that the blaze occurred due to a series of cylinder explosions in the hutments. - PTI
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Meanwhile, police has cordoned off the area and were trying to verify the claims of the locals.
A major fire swept through a slum in India's commercial capital Mumbai on Monday, officials said, with fears residents may be trapped inside the packed complex.
Dramatic video footage and pictures posted on Twitter showed thick black smoke bellowing above Kandivali slum, with reports that a series of gas cylinder explosions caused the blaze.
"It's a major fire," Dhananjay Kulkarni, a deputy commissioner with the Mumbai police, told AFP.
"Policemen and fire brigade officers are on the spot. They are busy with rescue operations but are facing problems in the relief work because the area is congested," he added.
Kulkarni said "we fear residents may be trapped" without giving any details on numbers.
Two people with burn injuries had been taken from the slum, an area in the north of the teeming western city, to hospital for treatment, he added.
An official at Mumbai's fire brigade control room, who declined to give his name, said the brigade had received a call alerting them to the blaze around 12:30pm (0700 GMT).
"Sixteen engines were sent and personnel are still fighting the fire," he told AFP.
Fire and police officials said an investigation into the cause was under way, but television stations cited local residents as saying the blaze occurred after gas cylinders exploded.
In June, a fire in a high-rise apartment block in Mumbai killed seven people after they became trapped in a lift on the upper floors.
A month earlier four senior officers from a Mumbai fire brigade died in a blaze at another building. - AFP 

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