More than 60 people suffered burn injuries across Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region during Diwali celebrations, with firecrackers and diyas linked to most cases and two women sustaining critical burns of 75% and 50%.
Hospitals across the region reported a rise in burn cases over Sunday and Monday. At the National Burns Centre in Airoli, 22 patients were admitted during the two-day period, including 17 with firecracker-related injuries. Nearly half of those patients were children, according to Dr Sunil Keswani, a plastic surgeon and director of the centre.
The injuries were concentrated in areas including Ghatkopar, Mulund, Navi Mumbai and Thane. Most patients admitted to hospitals had burns covering 10% to 15% of their bodies, while several others were treated through outpatient departments.
KEM Hospital referred 11 patients to its burns ward. Sion Hospital reported three cases, Cooper Hospital 16 and Nair Hospital nine, with all those patients treated on an outpatient basis. At JJ Hospital, five people were brought in with firecracker injuries and were also treated as outpatients.
Doctors said anars, or flowerpot crackers, were responsible for most of the firecracker-related injuries at the National Burns Centre. Three other patients were injured while preparing Diwali snacks; two women and a child suffered burns from hot oil.
Among those receiving treatment at KEM is a 31-year-old woman from Dombivli who sustained burns covering about 10% of her body after her clothes caught fire while she was lighting a diya. Her brother, Ganesh Chaukekar, said the flames burned her upper body and that she was brought to KEM for treatment. Some patients, including Chaukekar’s sister, remained admitted at the hospital.
Dr Keswani said diyas placed on the floor in small homes could pose a high risk because clothing can catch fire quickly and there may be limited space to move safely. He said one severely burned woman treated at the centre had come from Kurla after her clothes caught fire while she was at home.
The National Burns Centre also treated two women and a child injured by hot oil while making festive food. The cases added to the pressure on burn-care facilities during the festival period, when hospitals handled injuries from both household activities and public celebrations.
The exact number and condition of patients at KEM could not be independently confirmed in the report. Doctors in the hospital’s plastic surgery department declined to comment, while KEM Dean Dr Harish Pathak was unavailable before publication.
