Mumbai : A security guard’s heroic attempt to save a family from a blaze ended in his tragic death on Friday. The security guard, who fell to his death from the 19th floor of a Mumbai high-rise, had rushed to help the residents when the building Avighna Park — caught fire.
Arun Tiwari was among those who rescued a family stuck in a flat.
A video showing a hapless Tiwari holding onto the railing of the balcony of the flat on the 19th floor and dangling precariously before falling down went viral even as fire brigade vehicles rushed to the spot. He was taken to the civic-run KEM hospital but was declared dead.
Some colleagues of Tiwari who did not wish to be named said he was making routine rounds when the fire alarm went off and the building’s security guards received a message about fire in a 19th floor flat.
He and other guards rushed to douse the fire using fire extinguishers, they said.
The fire is suspected to have started from a short circuit in a flat. A woman and two kids were trapped in the flat. The guards managed to rescue them. They then tried to douse the flames using fire extinguishers, they said.
However, the flat was filled with thick black smoke, making it impossible to breathe. So, they ran out. However, Tiwari got left behind and was trapped inside. “He probably could not find his way out as the blaze was the strongest near the flat’s door,” a colleague said.
“He called me on my mobile. As it was impossible to escape through the door, I asked him to wait in a corner of the balcony till the fire brigade came to rescue him,” he added.
According to another guard, Tiwari possibly tried to climb down onto a small cubical balcony on the floor below. “He must have misjudged its position and distance and was left dangling, before losing his grip and falling,” he said.
A fire brigade official said that Tiwari first hit the corner of the parking area and then fell on top of a fire engine as its ladder was being raised to rescue him. A video that captured the incident has since gone viral.
Tiwari, who hailed from a village near Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, had been working at One Avighna Park for the past eight years.
Tiwari was planning to go home in a few days. “Recently, he had bought a new mobile phone. Somebody had gifted him a bag which he planned to take with him while going home. He had also bought a pair of shoes, which he had not worn even once,” one of his colleagues said.
A distant relative of Tiwari, Mukesh Pandey, said he was unmarried and is survived by his mother and an elder brother who live in Uttar Pradesh. Tiwari’s body will be taken to his native village for the last rites.
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