A 30-year-old security guard fell to his death from a balcony on the 19th floor of a 61-storey residential building in central Mumbai after a major fire broke out there on Friday, officials said. As soon as Arun Tiwari received frantic calls from residents of the 64-storey building that the highrise was on fire, he rushed to the 19th floor to help those trapped. By the time Tiwari, who worked as a security guard, reached up, the raging blaze had engulfed 19-20th floors of the building. Tiwari himself was trapped amid fire all around.
“After the fire broke out, Arun Tiwari, a security guard of the building, rushed to the 19th floor. But he soon realized that he was trapped and to save himself he went to the balcony of the flat where the fire had erupted,” another official said.
Mayor Pednekar said Tiwari could have been saved had the private security guards appointed at the building been well-trained. “They (Tiwari’s colleagues) had 15 minutes to take necessary steps. Had they caught him in a bedsheet below or put mattresses on the floor, he might have survived,” she said.
Tiwari, who has been working at the 60 storeyed One Avighna Park for a few years now, was trapped on the 19th floor, where the fire had erupted. In a video that has since gone viral on social media, Tiwari can be seen dangling from a balcony as he slowly loses his grip and falls. He was rushed to KEM hospital where doctors declared him dead.
