India: Mumbai man refuses to leave bedridden mother during fire, both die

A man in the Indian city of Mumbai has died, alongside his 80-year-old bedridden mother after he refused to leave her side, despite being trapped in a raging blaze on Saturday (Dec 2). The man has been identified as Dhiren Nalikant who lived in the Jethabhai Govindji building, Girgaon when the incident transpired.

Nalikant, a chemist by profession lived with his mother on the third floor of the building. On Saturday evening, around 9 pm, a fire broke out which officials of the fire brigade suspect was due to a short circuit in the electric box on the ground floor.

Owing to the dilapidated condition of the century-old building and the old wooden stairs, the fire spread quickly and in no time, reached the third floor.

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While the rest of Dhiren's family ran out the floor to safety, the 60-year-old preferred to stay close to his mother, who had been recently discharged from a hospital.

According to the testimony of one of the neighbours, people had to break the grilles of their homes to exit as the building's entry was engulfed in flames.

“The only exit was from the windows,” said Salome Shah.

Leaving mother was not an option

Sensing that his mother would not be able to make it, Nalikant took the tough call to brave it but unfortunately succumbed to the fire.

“A plank was used to connect the building on fire to the adjacent high-rise for rescue,” a fire officer was quoted as saying byTimes of India.

“But Dhiren hesitated as leaving his mother alone was not an option. By the time our teams controlled the flames, the blaze had already reached their home.”

The fire brigade said the wooden structure and the Mangalore tile roofing of the building suffered extensive damage. The fire spread rapidly as the old building lacked a fire-fighting system.

Such was the damage that residents had to evacuate their homes as the building was declared uninhabitable by the authorities.

(With inputs from agencies)