Mangaluru: In an incident reported on Tuesday morning, Zareena Shaheen Kola (57), a resident of Bhatkal, lost her life in a fire that broke out on the twelfth floor of a seventeen-story building in Attavar. The unfortunate incident occurred in the wee hours of Tuesday at around 4 o'clock.

According to the reports, Zareena Shaheen Kola, had recently arrived in Mangalore from Dubai with her husband Abdullah Kola for medical treatment, and was staying in her son-in-law Shayan Damudi's flat along with her two daughters.

Reports further added that the fire originated in the hall of the flat during the night, leading to the rapid spread of smoke. Zareena Shaheen Kola, believed to be in the bathroom at the time, succumbed to suffocation.

Shayan Damudi, who was in Bhatkal during the incident, was alerted by his wife about the fire. All the other members of the family were trapped inside the flat before Shayan informed friends in the residential tower, who used an alternate key to open the flat door. They rescued Abdullah Kola and the two daughters, but Zareena Shaheen Kola had already passed away.

Fahad Shabandri, an active member of Bhatkal Muslim Jamaat in Mangaluru, and a resident of the same apartment tower, played a crucial role in the rescue and bravely navigated through smoke-filled rooms, they managed to pull out Abdullah and the two trapped women.

Following the incident, a team of Bhatkal Muslim Jamaat Mangaluru, including Arshad Mohtisham, Ashraf Sada, Saud Mohtisham, Moulana Dawood, and others, assisted the family and their relatives with paperwork and hospitalization procedures.

Abdullah is currently hospitalized at AJ Hospital, in stable condition despite suffering from heavy smoke inhalation, Ashraf Sada informed Vartha Bharati over a phone call. The two other women are also receiving medical attention at a private hospital.

The cause of the fire is unknown, and initial speculation about a mobile battery explosion was dismissed as there was no mobile in the hall. Ashraf Sada however, said that the cause of the fire could have been short circuit. The fire resulted in the burning and destruction of the aquarium, furniture, including the sofa, and other belongings.

A case has been registered at local police station, and further investigations are underway.

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Mumbai (PTI): The rupee settled with gains of just one paisa to close at 94.15 against the US dollar on Monday, as rising global uncertainty, escalating tensions in West Asia and soaring crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.

Forex traders said the INR/USD pair pared its initial losses, but the overall bias remains negative as FII sell-off and elevated crude oil prices restricted the gains for the local unit.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 94.25 against the US dollar, and touched an intraday high of 94.11 and a low of 94.28 against the greenback during the day.

At the end of Monday's trading session, the rupee was quoted at 94.15, registering a gain of just 1 paisa over its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee extended its losing streak for the fifth day in a row, depreciating 15 paise to close at 94.16 against the US dollar.

"The rupee snapped a five-session losing streak, rebounding in tandem with a rally across regional currencies. However, the mood remains apprehensive as the market braces for a potential RBI intervention around 94.30 and higher crude oil prices," said Dilip Parmar – Senior Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

On the charts, the USDINR pair has reclaimed its upward momentum, carving out a classic bullish structure of higher highs and lows on the daily time frame, he said, adding that for the coming sessions, 93.80 serves as a support, with 94.40 acting as the primary hurdle.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.21 per cent at 98.32.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 2.36 per cent at USD 107.82 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 639.42 points to settle at 77,303.63, while the Nifty surged 194.75 points to 24,092.70.

Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,151.48 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, India's forex reserves jumped by USD 2.362 billion to USD 703.308 billion during the week ended April 17, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had increased by USD 3.825 billion to USD 700.946 billion.