Click to play videoThane: The six firemen who choked to death on Diwali night on Saturday when they were fighting a blaze in a building in Thane were ill-equipped and breached their own safety norms, a probe has found.
The firemen got stuck in an elevator at the fourteen-storied Punarvasu Building apartments at 2330 hrs IST. The firefighters had put out a blaze at the building a few hours ago but had to rush back when they got a call that the fire was not out completely.
They rushed into the lift which got stuck before it hit the fourteenth floor. With smoke still going through the building, the trapped firefighters suffocated to death inside the elevator.
A preliminary investigation suggests the fire in the apartment was caused by a short circuit. Nandakumar Jantre, commissioner of the Thane Municipal Corporation, said the six men choked to death.
Jantre told reporters a separate investigation would establish if the lift was safe, but experts are already pointing fingers at the unfortunate firemen.
Investigators are still trying to find out why the firefighters took the elevator when it is not advised to do so in a blaze. The firefighters were equipped to rescue people only till the twelfth floor But still tried to reach the fourteenth floor.
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