Fire at Morarjee Mill, no one hurt

Chief Fire Officer V V Rao said, “The entire building (300 feet x 80 feet) which has an auto B shed on the ground floor, spinning mills and grinding departments on the first floor and doubling and winding departments on the second floor was gutted.” The fire broke out in the ground floor and spread to the first and second floor. Due to the wooden structures, the entire flooring and the beams caved in.

Around 4,000 employees work at the mill, which is located on 50,000 square feet at Dr Ambedkar Road, Parel Causeway. The exact cause of the fire will be ascertained in a day or two. Ruling out the possibility of sabotage, Rao said the fire was definitely accidental and could have been sparked off by a fault in an electrical cable. He has permitted the mill to restart work in other departments.

The 80-odd workers on their first shift managed to escape in the nick of time due to adequate exit points in the building. “I was on the job when I smelt something burning. Initially, I thought there was a minor fire in the wiring section, but after seeing my colleagues run helter-skelter, I followed suit,” said a worker in the winding section.

Executive director and chief executive officer of the mill, PK Gothi, said the damage caused to material, machinery and building is yet to be assessed. Due to the quick response of the fire brigade as well as timely action by workers, the damage was contained in only one building, he added.

Sources peg the losses at crores of rupees, as a large number of cotton and polyester bales have been destroyed. An official also admitted that the building had not been renovated even once.