Mumbai Kamala Mills Fire: Birthday cake sparkler caused 1Above pub fire

Mumbai: Birthday cake sparkler caused 1Above pub fire says eye-witness, Rohit Goyal, who was sitting on the adjacent table, when Khushboo was cutting the cake witnesses, Rohit Goyal, who is admitted at INHS Asvini after he sustained 18 per cent burn injuries in the Kamala Mills fire tragedy on December 29. Bhansali (29) had gone to the 1Above pub with her friends to celebrate her birthday.

24-year-old Goyal from the paramilitary force, too was there to dine, albeit alone. “I was having food when a group of youngsters arrived and sat next to my table. They had come to celebrate the birthday of a girl. Since the celebration was on the adjacent table, I could not help watching the proceedings. Soon one of them brought out a cake with a sparkler on the top. At 00:21 am (on December 29), the birthday girl lit the sparkler. It was a messy celebration as the tarpaulin that covered the rooftop restaurant caught fire from the sparkler. Though they tried to stamp out the flame, panic had already ensued and the moment of joy ended on a tragic note,” Goyal told the Free Press Journal.

There were more than 100 people at 1Above pub; most of them, at almost all the tables, were enjoying hookahs and the DJ was blaring out the numbers when the fire broke out. “There was an official photographer who was capturing every moment at the pub. He must have clicked the dying moments on his camera,” he said.

After paying the bill with his debit card, Goyal was about to come out of the pub when the incident occurred. “After dinner, I had gone to wash my hands. I had just come back to collect my wallet, cell-phones and power bank.

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The fire spread in just 25 seconds. People ran to save their lives as the flaming tarpaulin started falling on the revellers. The situation was chaotic. I am a trained officer and can tackle such a crisis but there was no fire extinguisher; otherwise, I would have surely saved some lives,” said Goyal, who lost both his cell-phones and power bank, as two people fell on him at the exit gate, due to which his fingers got dislocated.

Goyal thanked staff members of nearby restaurants and pubs who helped rescue panic-stricken people. “Staff members of nearby restaurants brought lots of curd and poured it on the injured people,” said Goyal, who is from Delhi and had visited 1Above pub for the first time.

Soon the fire snowballed with the midnight breeze fanning it and engulfed the adjacent restaurant, Mojo’s Bistro, which too was gutted. Initially, Goyal was admitted to a hospital and later he was shifted to INHS Asvini where personnel from Navy Police as well as NM Joshi Marg police station have recorded his statement.