Major fire breaks out at Mumbai's Lower Parel commercial building

The operation to douse the blaze at a commercial building in Mumbai has been going on for more than two hours after a fire erupted there on Friday morning, civic officials said.

There are no reports of any injury in the fire that broke out at the Times Tower building in the Kamala Mills compound of the Lower Parel area around 6.30 am, the officials said.

The authorities had initially said that the commercial building had seven floors. They later updated the information, calling it a 14-storey structure.

The level 2 (major) fire is confined to an electric duct between the third and seventh floors on the rear side of the building with a glass facade, a civic official said.

Firefighters used “chisel and hammer” to break the locks on the doors and enter the commercial building to battle the fire, he said.

Eight fire engines and other firefighting vehicles were sent to the spot, an official had said earlier.

The Kamala Mills compound, which has witnessed many major fires, is located next to the Parkside residential building.

Parkside residents said it was a “terrifying experience” to see plumes of flame and smoke rising close to their homes.

According to the residents, their security staff tried to control the blaze with their building's firefighting equipment before firemen arrived at the scene.

“Our emergency team used our hose pipes before the fire brigade could reach the spot,” claimed one of the residents.