Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (SS)
Mangaluru, Dec 21: More than 100 people were saved from a possible fire accident at a 13-storeyed flat situated between two hospitals due to the presence of mind shown by a manager of the flat in Deralakatte.
The flat which is situated close to a hospital in Deralakatte had caught fire.
On Tuesday, December 20, two dental college students living in the flat left early to attend a workshop. In their urgency to leave, the students left the iron box on their bed after switching it off. But, there was a smell of smoke that came from their flat since the morning.
Screengrab from video footage of fire and Mohammed Shahid Shafiq (inset)
The manager of the flat Mohammed Shahid Shafiq began looking out for the origin of the smell and he came to know that it was from the flat in which the students lived. The manager could not open the flat as it was locked but contacted the students by calling them up.
He told them about the smoke that was coming out from their room and asked them to return home immediately. Thereafter, the students rushed immediately to their flat. By the time they could arrive and get into their flat the house was engulfed with a thick layer of smoke. The manager boldly entered their flat and opened all the windows.
The cause for smoke was not known but the manager stayed back to study the situation for a brief while. Meanwhile, he saw that the bed had caught fire. He immediately summoned the security person of the flat Lokesh. Both of them doused off the fire and removed the bed preventing any further damage.
Had the manager Shahid Shafiq delayed the act there was a danger that the entire flat would have caught fire.
Mohammed Shahid Shafiq is also the secretary of the Ullal block Youth Congress.