Artist loses 40 paintings in Fire

No one injured as blaze destroys Kalyani Nagar flat; short circuit in AC suspected

Artist loses 40 paintings in Fire

No one injured as blaze destroys Kalyani Nagar flat; short circuit in AC suspected

Losing almost 40 precious paintings in a fire at her duplex flat in Kalyani Nagar is something artist Zhang Dong may never come to terms with. The incident took place around 9.30 am yesterday in Flat No 805 at Marble Wega City when Dong had gone to drop her children to school. Although the flat was completely destroyed, no one was injured in the incident. Dong, who is of Chinese origin, has been living with her French husband Romit in the rented flat since the past one year.

Remains of the day: The Kalyani Nagar flat of artist Zhang Dong after
the fire. Pic/Krunal Gosavi

25 min to douse fire
The fire was reported by the supervisor of the residential complex around 9.40 am. The flat was completely gutted, according to the firemen from Yerawada fire brigade. "We entered the flat with the help of a rope from the ninth floor and made our way into the house. It took about 25 minutes to douse the fire," said Ramesh Gangad, assistant station duty officer. Gangad said they suspected a short circuit in the air-conditioner to be behind the the fire. "Since the flat was locked, we had to break into it, which consumed a lot of time," he said.

Irreparable loss
Romit, who works as a software professional with a private company, said that this was a loss the couple would take ages to overcome. "We don't know how it happened. Almost 40-60 paintings were completely destroyed in the fire along with the furniture," he said.

Smoke from flat
Rajesh Mishra, the security supervisor at the complex, said he first noticed windowpanes crashing down from one of the flats and smoke from the top floors. "It was difficult to ascertain the flat from where the smoke was coming," he said.