Alert neighbours help rescue trapped grandpa, six-year-old

Alyssa and Wenceslaus Lobo after their rescue. Pic/Hanif Patel

An 81-year-old bedridden man and his granddaughter had a lucky escape, when a fire broke out in a flat below theirs on Thursday, thanks to alert neighbours, who told the Fire Brigade about them. Fire Brigade personnel broke open the locked door to their flat and rescued them.

The fire broke out due to a short circuit around 8 AM in the fridge in a flat at New Surya Co-operative Housing Society at Vasai West. No one was hurt in the incident. Residents Asha Shah, and her daughter, Vidhi, 18, ran out of the flat as they didn't know what to do and the fire began to spread. People in the other flat on their floor and other residents of the building also ran out.

However, Wenceslaus Lobo was with his six-year-old granddaughter, Alyssa, in his second floor flat. Police said the Lobos felt suffocated because of the smoke, but could not escape as the flat was locked from outside. Lobo also cannot walk without help.

Monica, Lobo's daughter-in-law, a teacher, said, "As always, I locked the house and went to school. My father-in-law and daughter were asleep. They woke up on hearing the siren of the Fire Brigade. They were frightened by the smoke in the house and started screaming. After neighbours alerted fire officials, they saved them." Police said Monica and her husband usually leave for work after locking the house. A maid arrives around 10 AM to do the housework, and give breakfast to Lobo and Alyssa, and then drop her to school.

Fire man Sandeep Patil said, "The fire broke out in the first floor flat of the building. One of our teams began extinguishing it and another rushed to rescue the senior citizen and child on the second floor.

The door was locked and we rescued them after breaking it." "During interrogation it was revealed that the fire began in the fridge due to a short circuit. There was no casualty, but the flat in which the fire broke out, is completely gutted," said a police officer.

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