MUMBAI: Meena Verma, 40, cannot thank the fire brigade enough for saving her life, and that of at least 20 others trapped on the fourth floor, the worst affected area, after fire broke out at the ESIC Hospital in Andheri on Monday.Meena, a kidney patient who had been operated on last week, was admitted in ICU. Her husband Rajendra was resting in a garden near the hospital’s gate when the fire broke around 4pm. She saw the smoke, and before anybody could fathom the danger, it had spread on the entire floor. “We panicked and were running here and there to find an escape route. We were unable to breathe due to the thick smoke,” recalled Meena at a hospital in Jogeshwari on Tuesday.Meena said patients had started falling unconscious when she saw a fireman breaking the glass facade window and coming to their rescue. “But before my number, I too fell unconscious. When I came around, I found myself on a bed in a different hospital,” she said.Rajendra said he rushed to the hospital on hearing about the fire, but it was difficult to enter because of the thick smoke. Later, police put up a perimeter around it to let firemen work without hindrance. Soon it was dark, and though Rajendra ran around trying to figure out if Meena had been rescued, he could not see her.Calming down, Rajendra started to enquire with officials at the spot about Meena. He then visited a nearby hospital, where he learnt she had been rescued and admitted to the Bal Thackeray Trauma Care Municipal Hospital at Jogeshwari. “I rushed there and found her safe on a bed,” he said, with a smile.

Stay updated with all the Mumbai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.