India, May 6 -- In the early hours of Monday, the Mumbai fire brigade received a distress call at 6.37am about smoke billowing from Riyaz Gangji Libas, a bridal designer brand showroom near Jaslok Hospital on Pedder Road. The showroom is on the ground floor of Sukh Shanti, a six-storey residential building.

A watchman sitting outside a nearby ATM was reportedly the first to see smoke surging out of the showroom. "He noticed the fire and alerted us; we then alerted all the residents of the building, who rushed down," said Santosh Poddar, watchman of Sukh Shanti.

By 7.04am the fire had turned into a blaze, by which time the firemen arrived at the spot with their water tankers and engines mobilised from Byculla and CSMT. "Thick black smoke...