While Chandrakant More's canteen u00a0co-workers escaped only to die of smoke inhalation, his inability to do so proved to be his saviour

Chandrakant More (43), a dishwasher in the basement canteen of the Tata Group headquarters at Bombay House, began last morning just like any other.

He dropped his son and daughter off at school and began his shift at 8.30 am.


Chandrakant More, a dishwasher in the basement canteen

The canteen's cashier, Farhad Wadia (25); cook, Ishwar Patel (45); and loader, Shashank Pawar (30) were also in the kitchen.

About an hour after the men started work, the fire alarm went off. More said he thought it was a false alarm like many others before it but this time, it wasn't.

People standing outside the building immediately knew how serious the fire was. "I saw small flames in the basement and the fire quickly became a raging one.

Smoke had completely enveloped the area," said Norma Lobo, a social worker, who works in the area.

Wadia, Patel and Pawar managed to get out of the kitchen, but More couldn't find his way out. This seemingly unfortunate event, however, turned out to be the one that saved his life.

For, while the other three men died of smoke inhalation in the basement's corridors, More survived to tell the tale.

Lobo saw one man being brought out on a stretcher. "He was foaming at the mouth. People were saying that his chances of survival were dim."

"I was suffocating for about ten minutes," More said from a bed at the St George Hospital in south Mumbai, where he is recuperating.

"I heard sounds from outside, people were shouting my name. Someone sprinkled water on the door.

I started to approach them, but began losing consciousness. I kept hearing voices for a long time and finally, a fireman pulled me out," he said.
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"I feel so lucky. I feel so lucky for my children that I survived," he added, tears creasing the corners of his eyes.

Gool Avasia, who has been working as a secretary with the Tata group for the last 30 years, said, "We knew all of them because we went to the canteen everyday.
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What happened is very sad, but it was beyond anyone's control. I feel sad for them and their families. Our group will miss them too. I just met them on Tuesday afternoon."

Cause unknown
Swati Sundareswaran, a Tata Sons spokesperson, said that the extent and cause of the damage is being investigated.