Fire Ravages Slum in India's Mumbai

A major fire ripped through a tightly-packed slum in the Indian city of Mumbai on Thursday, destroying dozens of shanties as residents desperately tried to douse the flames.

Sixteen fire engines, eight water tankers and three ambulances rushed to the scene in the city's southern tip after the blaze broke out late morning, the fire brigade said.

"There were huge flames and plumes of dark smoke billowing out, which covered the entire area," said Pankaj Sood, a resident of one of the high-rise buildings facing the slum.

Slum-dwellers were seen standing on their tin roofs chucking water from buckets and spraying it from hosepipes to try to save their homes.

"The fire is still on but we have control over it," an officer at the fire brigade control room told AFP on Thursday afternoon, adding that no casualties had been reported.

In January this year a blaze in a slum in central Mumbai killed six people and left hundreds homeless.