Visually Impaired Woman Raises Fire Alarm, Saves Lives 

Mumbai: A visually impaired woman ended up saving a few lives when she alerted her son in the nick of time as a major fire broke out at a farsan shop in suburban Saki Naka-Kurla area in the wee hours of Monday.

Twelve others, mostly workers sleeping in the shop located at Makaria Compound on the Khairani road, died in the blaze. "We live in a room in the front side of the building (which also houses the farsan shop-cum-factory). My mother, who cannot see, heard loud noise between 3 and 4 am. She woke me up, thinking that some thieves have broken into the building," said Tushar Pawar (27). "We then rushed out and heard loud explosions.

Realising that there was a fire, we raised alarm, and five or six people who live in the front side came out," he said. "We tried to douse the flames by pouring water. But we soon realised it was beyond our control, so we immediately called fire brigade," he said. According to Pawar, since the fire broke out in the mid-section of the one-storey structure housing the farsan shop-cum-factory, those who were inside, mostly workers, could not come out.

PTI