The blaze, suspected to have been caused by a short-circuit, erupted around 3.45pm in one of the bedrooms of the couple’s flat in Hari-Preet building opposite Podar school, while they were resting.
Former corporator Alka Kerkar told TOI that Nitesh reportedly suffered a head injury in the incident too. Nitesh and his wife, Ambika, did not have children, Kerkar added. Shailesh Mehta, secretary of the housing society, said the senior couple were retired professors who had lived in the building for the past 18 to 19 years.
S K Bandgar, assistant divisional fire officer, said as soon as the firemen arrived, the couple’s driver informed them that the two were trapped inside their flat. “We concentrated all our efforts on rescuing them. We also started spraying water on the window of their bedroom from an adjacent building. Flames were shooting out of the main door and windows of the flat and smoke had engulfed the entire staircase. We laid two water lines through the staircase and our team had to don five BA (breathing apparatus) sets in firefighting and rescue efforts. Firemen entered the flat and brought the couple down through the staircase. While Ambika Joshi is stable, her husband had inhaled a lot of smoke. We found him on the floor of the flat. We then rushed him to the hospital,” said Bandgar. Ambika was treated in a 108 ambulance at the site and was stable. Meanwhile, Nitesh Joshi’s body has been sent for post-mortem.
While the couple was resting, Ambika sensed the smoke and got up to check when she heard a sound similar to a short-circuit and saw flames erupt in the other bedroom. She woke her husband up and asked him to turn off the main electric supply as she could not reach the switch.
“Nitesh Joshi panicked and fell, thereby inhaling a lot of smoke,” said Bandgar.
The firemen did not have to break open the flat’s door, as it was already gutted. They broke open the doors of a total of three other flats on the sixth and seventh floors, as they wanted to check if any occupants were stuck inside, since smoke had engulfed the entire area, the staircase, the passageway and corridors.
“All residents of C Wing, where the fire broke out, were evacuated,” said Mehta.
