India highrise fire kills 7, injures 15

In a shocking tunr of events, no fewer than seven people died in a massive fire at a residential highrise in the western Indian city of Mumbai on Saturday.

Some 15 people were  injured in the blaze that on the 18th floor of Kamla complex in Mumbai's Tardeo area in the morning and soon engulfed the two upper floors of the 20-storey building, reports UNB citing officials.

Some 13 fire tenders were pressed into service but it took them nearly three hours to douse the flames, a senior police official told the local media.

"While seven residents lost their lives in the fire, the injured have been hospitalised. The condition of six of the injured is critical," the official said. "The remaining residents were safely evacuated."

Local TV channels beamed footage of white smoke billowing out of the highrise building, with firefighters using hydraulic cranes to evacuate the trapped residents.

"A probe has been ordered into the inferno," a fire official said.

Building fires are common in India, and are often attributed to poor maintenance and absence of basic fire safety systems. A number of people die in such fires every year.