Mumbai: 23 Fashion Street shops charred in major fire, no injuries reported; watch video

Mumbai: The devastating fire that broke out on Fashion Street on Saturday around 1 p.m. burned down 23 shops to ashes within minutes, blowing up material worth lakhs of rupees belonging to the vendors. Officials said there were no injuries, and the fire was doused off within 15 minutes.

According to officials, the fire brigade was alerted about the incident, and six fire engines were rushed to the spot. The flames were huge, but the fire was brought under control before it could spread to more shops.

The fashion street lane was shut down and the electricity was cut off.

The entire fashion street lane with more than 300 shops was shut down completely, and the electricity was cut off. The shop owners whose shop got burned down were seen in tears and trying to console each other.

By evening, some were seen with a plough, clearing out their material, which was now in ashes. A few vendors were also seen going through the ash and debris of the shop to find their valuables like documents, cards, electronics, and other items.

Vendors were also seen finding their valuables in the ashes.

By evening, some were seen with a plough, clearing out their material, which was now in ashes. A few vendors were also seen going through the ash and debris of the shop to find their valuables like documents, cards, electronics, and other items.

Santosh Shah, from Uttar Pradesh, who has been working at Fashion Street for 25 years, selling jeans, was in tears as he recited the entire incident, including how he lost everything within minutes.

It spread so fast that we did not understand what to do.

Shah said, "The fire was uncontrollable; it spread so fast that we did not understand what to do. Should we just run? Should we try and gather as much of our stock as possible with us? In that moment, we just went blank. We then started throwing some of our stock outside, but then the tin shed above fell on it, and even that got burned. There was no insurance or anything; now all that is left of my 15 lakh stock is just ash. I have a family to feed; I don’t know what to do; I will have to borrow money from somewhere to restart the business."

This is not the first time a shop has caught fire here.

Regarding previous metre short circuits, Shah added, saying, "This is not the first time a shop caught fire here." All the metres in the shops here are faulty; they keep giving some issue, and we have to fix it. Just last month, one shop caught fire because of a faulty meter, but fortunately it was confined to only one shop and the fire was doused off. Almost a year ago, there was a similar incident, and just yesterday, some people from BEST had come to repair a metre at an adjacent shop. These are our every-day problems, and we can do nothing about them."

The losses are estimated to cross Rs 1 crore, said the vendors.

will work only till sunset

Amit Kumar, a vendor who had to shut his shop due to the incident, said, "There is no electricity; the BEST has cut the electricity of all the shops, and we don’t know when they will restore it back." "Till then we will be able to work only until sunset, and after that we will either use our torches or the streetlights."

Another vendor, Salman Shaikh, said, "I was fortunate enough that it did not happen with my shop; I really don’t know what I would do. I have already borrowed money from several people to buy the stock. The incident occurred on a weekend when the sale is at its peak; all of us are in huge losses."

Shoppers were seen pouring in till late in the evening for shopping.

Shoppers were seen pouring in till late in the evening for shopping but were in dismay looking at the shops shut and some of them burned down.

"I had heard a lot about Fashion Street from my friends about how lively this flea market is, hence I came over to check it out, but to my disappointment everything was closed, and I felt very bad for the shop owners who are facing such a crisis," said a tourist, Neelam Pujari, from Nagpur who was visiting Fashion Street Market for the first time.

Fashion Street is famous for the cluster of over 385 street-side clothing shops on MG Road near Azad Maidan, in South Mumbai, and is best known for its cheap prices and bargaining.