11 suffer burns, smoke inhalation in apartment building fire

Eleven people were hospitalised for first-degree burns and smoke inhalation after a blaze broke out in a nine-storey apartment building. Five of the injured are in critical condition.

They include a 45-day-old infant, Ashwin, who was burned on both hands. He was also suffering from smoke inhalation. The fire broke out at 11am yesterday when everyone was at home in the building's 36 apartments.

The fire, according to the watchman, started in garbage on the ground floor and rapidly spread to the first floor, destroying a maintenance office and filling the building with thick, black smoke.

"The fire only spread to the first floor, destroying the maintenance and estate agency office of the building. But soon the thick smoke rose all the way up the staircase to the penthouse," said the building's watchman who did not want to be named.