Mumbai: A major fire broke out on the first floor of the concourse area of the busy Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) railway station in Mumbai on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
Nobody was injured in the incident as the fire remained confined to the electrical installations on the first floor. Construction workers and some people present on platform number 1 immediately vacated the concourse area, officials said. The incident occurred at around 2:45 pm when the work for the construction of sleeping pods near the Jan Aahar Canteen located on the first floor was going on.
An under-construction sleeping pod, Jan Aahar canteen, and a portion of the station building roof and facade were damaged in the incident, said Shivraj Manaspure, Chief PRO, Central Railway. He said the preliminary information suggested that the fire erupted in the Jan Aahar Canteen, but it now emerges that it erupted in the pod construction area.
There was no passenger train on platform number 1 when the incident occurred, another official said. Personnel of the fire brigade, Mumbai police, Central Railway, civic body, RPF and traffic police were mobilised at the spot. The fire brigade later declared it a level 2 (major) fire, a civic official said. The fire was doused at around 5.30 pm and the cooling operation is underway.
A civic official said electric wiring and installations, wooden partitions, false ceiling, iron props, furniture, plywood, and office records were damaged in the fire near the canteen area. Railway officials said sparks during welding work for the pod construction might have triggered the fire. "The Jan Aahar canteen is located on the first floor above the main ticket booking counter in the concourse area of the station. After the fire, the booking counters and announcement centres were immediately vacated," an official said.
According to Manaspure, the fire was brought under control by 3.30 pm. An official said the Central Railway temporarily switched off the power supply of overhead wires at the LTT station as a precautionary measure after the fire broke out. Located in the Kurla suburb, the LTT train terminus is a busy railway station from where long-distance express trains as well as suburban trains are operated.
A video of the fire incident went viral on social media, in which black smoke rising above the roof of the railway station could be seen. Five fire engines, two tankers, five jetties and fire brigade vehicles rushed to the spot.
