Thane: As many as 50 people were rescued after a major fire broke out at a 17-storey residential building in Maharashtra's Thane city, officials said on Monday.
The blaze erupted around 8.30 pm on Sunday, Diwali, at the Carlyle building, which has 28 flats, in the Raheja Garden complex in the city's Wagle Estate area, they said.
No casualties were reported, Thane Municipal Corporation's (TMC) regional disaster management cell chief Yasin Tadvi said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is also the guardian minister of Thane, visited the site to supervise the rescue operations and take stock of the situation.
The fire spread from the seventh to the 14th floors and the duct of the high-rise building, triggering a major emergency response. To tackle the blaze and rescue residents, authorities deployed multiple fire tenders, two sky-lift fire engines, water tankers and ambulances.
Firefighters from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) also joined the operations. Advanced measures, including drones, were used to locate the source of the fire and identify occupants trapped on the upper floors, he said.
Emergency responders later evacuated nearly 50 people, guiding trapped residents to safety via the building's terrace and designated refuge areas, the official said.
The blaze was brought under control by 2.30 am on Monday, and cooling operations were underway. The cause of the fire is being investigated, Tadvi said.
Thane Lok Sabha member Naresh Mhaske, TMC Commissioner Saurabh Rao, Collector Srikrishna Panchal and Mayor Sharmila Pimplolkar also visited the site.
