Video Editor: Ashutosh Bharadwaj
The fire that ripped through Crystal Towers in Mumbai's Parel could have claimed many more lives had it not been for the heroics of Zen Sadavarte. The young girl, all of 10, used the learnings from her disaster management lessons to offer useful advice and rescue the residents of the building.
Four persons, including an elderly woman, were killed and 16 others injured after a level-4 fire broke out in the residential building on Wednesday morning.
After the fire broke out, Sadavarte gathered all the residents on her floor to an open the gallery and urged them to maintain calm.
She also insisted they use the makeshift air purifiers which she made. Recalling her lessons, Zen also shut off the electricity and gas cylinders so that the fire does not spread.
I gathered a few of the clothes, tore them into bits. Then I put them in water, turning them into air purifiers. When you breathe through it, you get purified air instead of a lot of carbon. I convinced the people to put the wet cloth on their face so that they do not suffocate. I had done research on this.Zen Sadavarte, Resident
When asked about rescuing people in spite of her young age, Zen asserted that age did not determine if a person is capable of doing something.
“I don’t think that age matters when it comes to learning these things and putting them into effect ,” she said.