Man suffocates to death in Ghorpade Peth bakery fire

PUNE: A worker employed in a tailoring shop died of suffocation while his colleague was taken to Sassoon hospital in an unconscious state after a fire broke out in a bakery at Ghorpade Peth late on Wednesday afternoon.
Fire-brigade officials said the deceased, Vinod Sauraj (32), and his colleague, Aslam Shaikh (35), were working in the shop located on the mezzanine floor of the building, just above Best Bakery. Both had rushed to the washroom to save themselves from the fire when they choked on the smoke and collapsed.

A fire-brigade official told TOI, “We received an emergency call at 5pm about the fire in the bakery located at Chandtara chowk in the Mominpura area. We rushed two fire tenders and three water tankers to the spot. The blaze was extinguished by 5.18pm.”

The official said the tailoring shop is accessible from inside the bakery via a staircase. “The sales counter is located in the front area of the bakery while the storage is in the rear section, where the fire broke out. As the flames spread, the two men in the tailoring shop rushed to the washroom and locked themselves in,” he added.

Meanwhile, another fire broke out after a gas cylinder exploded at Patrya Maruti chowk in Narayan Peth, where many eateries are located. Fortunately, no one was injured in the blast and the subsequent blaze. This is the second fire at the eateries at the same chowk in the last two months.

In December 2016, six employees were killed when a fire broke out in a bakery at Kondhwa following a short-circuit. The employees were fast asleep when the blaze occurred.

In December 2017, a major fire broke out at a bakery located at Meenatai Thackeray Vasahat in Gultekdi. There were 25 workers in the bakery at the time but they all managed to rush out.