MUMBAI: A fire broke out near the entry ramp of the Mumbai Coastal Road tunnel at Marine Drive on Sunday afternoon, prompting a response from the Mumbai Fire Brigade. No injuries were reported.
Chief fire officer Ravindra Ambulgekar said the fire control room received a call at 1:50pm about a blaze near the tunnel entry. Fire tenders reached the spot at 1:58pm and extinguished the flames within minutes.
The fire was confined to garbage collected between the seashore and the tetrapods along the promenade. It was put out using a first-aid line from a water quick response vehicle. One fire engine, a water quick response vehicle and a 108 ambulance were deployed.
Mantayya Swami, chief engineer of the Mumbai Coastal Road project, told HT that the blaze was caused by alleged drug addicts who may have burnt plastic waste below the promenade. “Some permanent solution is being explored apart from police patrolling to remove such elements,” he said.
Initially, there were reports that the coastal road entry had been closed due to the fire. However, the deputy commissioner of police, traffic (south), said there was no such closure and no disruption to traffic. Officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) also said they were not aware of any such incident.