Mumbai News: Visuals Show Smoke Coming Out Of Trident Hotel's Rooftop In Nariman Point; BMC Denies Fire Incident

Mumbai: A video showing black smoke coming out of the rooftop of Mumbai's Trident Hotel building at Nariman Point surfaced on the internet on Sunday morning. Initially, reports suggested that a fire had broke out at around 7 am in the building resulting in smoke coming out of the roof.

However, the BMC confirmed that there was no fire incident reported at the hotel. Authorities said that the smoke was coming from the boiler room of the hotel.

Mumbai Fire Brigade also shared a statement about the incident denying claims of a fire at the hotel. "It was not a fire incident but a regular maintenance drill where there was some smoke from their chimney and it seemed like a fire. We also moved our teams to the spot but nothing was there, we are still at the spot," said Mumbai Fire Brigade officials.

Recent Incident Of Fire Reported In South Mumbai

A fire broke out in an 11th floor flat in the 15-storey Breach Candy Apartment on Bhulabhai Desai Road on June 15 in the evening. No injuries were reported in the incident.

This was the second fire incident in the same building. Last month, on May 28, a fire had broken out on the 12th floor of the building. After the incident, the fire brigade issued a notice to the housing society for not keeping their firefighting equipment functional.

According to the fire brigade, the blaze broke out around 4.33pm in the apartment block. It was put out by 7.30pm. It was confined to the electric wiring installation, household articles, beds and clothes.

Reason behind the fire is still under investigation

Fire officers said that the reason behind the fire is still under investigation. The flat owner told the fire brigade that his flat was empty after the last incident. He only entered the flat on Thursday.

Gautam Ashra, a resident of the ninth floor B-wing apartment, said that the electric wires are old. It is alleged that there is no unity among the residents. “While some are asking for redevelopment, others are only for repairs. Now, wirings are old and there are chances of more fire incidents in the building in future. Moreover, there are illegal encroachments. If redevelopment happens, then they will lose their encroached areas. This is the problem with all the old buildings and people should understand this,” he said. 

Ashra added, “Four years ago, complaints were made to the BMC about the dilapidated condition. The BMC had advised to strengthen the building. If there are illegal encroachments, how can the building be strengthened? Now again, the BMC is advising for repairs. But how many times can one repair the building.”