MUMBAI: Panic gripped a seven-storey slum rehabilitation building in Andheri West on Friday afternoon after a massive fire erupted in the ground-floor meter room and raced through the building’s electrical wiring, sending thick smoke billowing through stairwells and corridors and trapping dozens of residents inside.Smoke traps dozens as fire tears through Andheri rehab building; residents break window grilles to rescue familiesAround 50 residents, including children and senior citizens, were rescued by locals and fellow residents, who broke open window grilles to pull families to safety even before firefighters arrived.Residents said that this was the fourth fire-related incident in the building and claimed that repeated warnings about electrical problems had gone unaddressed.Videos of the frantic rescue, widely shared on social media, showed terrified residents clinging to their window grilles to escape the smoke as cries for help echoed through the building.The fire broke out at around 2.15 pm at Building No. 1 of the Andheri United Cooperative Society in Andheri West. “I was offering Friday prayers when I heard people shouting that the building had caught fire,” said 42-year-old Abdullah Shaikh, one of the first responders. “There was almost no visibility inside when we entered the building.”Shaikh, along with other local residents, rushed inside and began rescuing those trapped before the Mumbai Fire Brigade reached the spot.“We had to break the window grilles and help people come out. Around 50 people were rescued. There were several senior citizens and children inside, and many were struggling to breathe because of the smoke,” he said.Among those rescued was 44-year-old Asif Shaikh, who was trapped on the third floor with eight members of his family. They initially tried escaping through the staircase but were forced to retreat.“There was so much smoke that we could barely see anything. We started suffocating and had difficulty breathing,” he said. “Even several hours later, I can still feel the smoke in my chest. We returned to our flat and began shouting for help. People from our locality broke the grills and rescued all eight of us. Otherwise, there were very slim chances of our survival.”Residents said those living on the fourth floor and above fled to the terrace to escape the smoke, while some on the lower floors managed to run out as soon as the fire broke out. Several others remained trapped until rescuers reached them.Residents alleged that the blaze was not an isolated incident. “This is the fourth time that a fire has broken out here,” said Asif Shaikh. “There was some fluctuation before the fire eventually broke out, but nothing substantial was done to rectify the problem when it was first brought to notice.”Fire brigade personnel, police and officials from the electricity distribution company carried out rescue operations. No fatalities were reported, though several residents complained of breathing difficulties after inhaling smoke.In a separate but similar incident earlier on Friday, a fire broke out at around 5.59 am in Gomati Vaishali Chawl at Vaishali Nagar in Jogeshwari West. According to the Mumbai Fire Brigade, the blaze was confined to electrical wiring and installations in the common meter cabin on the ground floor of the ground-plus-six-storey building and was extinguished by 6.18 am. Eleven residents, seven men and four women, suffered smoke inhalation and burn injuries. Fire officials said all of them were in stable condition.