21-year-old Jitesh Ahire put his own life on risk to rescue people trapped in the building.
Never could residents of Mumbai's Lake Homes Complex building have imagined that ordering a pizza could prove to be a blessing in disguise. For nearly 25 lives were saved by Jitesh Ahire, a pizza delivery boy, who put his own life on risk to rescue people trapped in the building which caught fire last evening.
Jitesh, 21, who works at Eagle Boys Pizza, 200 metres from the residential complex, had gone to deliver pizza to the building when he witnessed the chaos there.
"There was an electrician, a plumber, a security guard and another resident with me. We rushed to the 14th floor after we saw people shouting for help from their balconies," Jitesh told NDTV.
Jitesh and the others took the stairs to the 22nd floor to rescue the resident since the lift had stopped working. He along with others tried to douse the fire with an extinguisher and water pipe, but the fire had spread quickly and they were unable to bring it under control, he said.
"We made 7 to 8 trips from the 14th up to the 22nd floor, bringing people down to the ground floor so ambulances could carry them to the hospital," Jitesh said.
Many of those whom Jitesh and others rescued had fainted due to the smoke that had engulfed nearly three floors.
Seven people died and 28 were injured in the fire that broke out in the 22-storey high-rise building in Chandivali in Mumbai's western suburbs yesterday. The injured are being treated at Hiranandani hospital.