Mumbai, 21 May (HS): A major fire that broke out in

the early Thursday morning engulfed 154 shops. The incident occurred in Gaondevi

Vegetable Market in Maharashtra’s Thane district. Two people including a

firefighter died in the fire. The fire was brough under control and cooling

operations were in progress.

Thane Municipal Corporation’s Disaster Management

Officer M Y Tadvi informed the media that the Fire Brigade received information

about the fire around 4 am. Initially Five Tenders, three Jumbo Water Tankers,

two other water tankers and four rescue vans were pressed into action with the

Disaster Response Force team. As the fire was going out of control eight

additional vehicles were called.

A firefighter Sagar Shinde (43) and Municipal

Corporation’s Security Guard Kalu Shankar Gadekar (53) received severe burn injuries

and died. During the fire dousing operation Station Officer Sujit Pashte (45)

and Sameer Jadhav (40) were seriously injured.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Rode, Deputy

Commissioner G G Godepure and other officers rushed to the site to guide the

firefighters.

Thane police started investigation into the case of

the fire.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Ajay Vasant Mardikar