10-year-old puts school drill to use, saves many

Mumbai, August 22

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After a fire broke out in a Mumbai high-rise on Wednesday morning, 10-year-old Zen Sadavarte showed her presence of mind by employing safety tips she had learnt at school to ensure that her family and neighbours remained safe.

Zen stays with her parents and a brother on the 16th floor in the 17-storey Crystal Tower at Parel in central Mumbai. A student of Class 6 of Don Bosco School in suburban Matunga, Zen recalled and put to use the fire safety tips she had learnt during a school project in Class 3, which ensured her family and others remained safe until the fire brigade personnel arrived.

The blaze, which broke out on the 12th floor of the building, killed four people and injured at least 16 others.

Zen said she was sleeping when her parents spotted smoke and woke her up. “Since it was a holiday on account of Eid, I slept a bit longer. My parents woke me up and when they opened the kitchen window, the entire flat was filled with smoke. My neighbours and a few others had gathered by the time,” she said.

“All of us went to our neighbouring flat in search of safe place. With the help of cotton, water and cloth pieces we made purifiers and handed them over to all people in the flat,” Zen said.

“I asked everyone to keep the purifiers on their mouth. This stopped them from suffocating due to smoke and they were able to breathe well, preventing inhalation of carbon dioxide,” she said.

When a cotton piece is soaked in water, you can breathe almost normally as carbon molecules are separated by the water. Besides, she also advised them to wash their head so that they do not panic, Zen said.

“I told my neighbours to shut the power supply, stay calm and breathe easy… After some time, the fire brigade personnel arrived and all of us were rescued,” she said.

“I learnt all this during a project when my teacher taught me dos and don’ts in a project of disaster management during fire. I am happy that whatever I learnt in a school project was useful in saving many lives,” she added. — PTI