How could I leave without ensuring the safety of 100 dancers, asks Vivek

Mumbai: A huge fire engulfed the stage of Make in India event, held at Girgaum Chowpaty, where many Bollywood stars were scheduled to perform at the venue. While the police officials and firemen had the disaster management in place, some others volunteered to speeden the rescue operation. When the broke out, Vivek Oberoi was sitting in his vanity van, which was a few feet away from stage.

An eyewitness told us, “Vivek was hosting his portion and then called 2 other actors to host it. He had an hour break and was in van doing his rehearsals for the next portion. Aditi Rao Hydari had to perform next. However, in no time there was an explosion from under the stage. Thankfully, the music was turned off immediately to inform the lavani dancers on stage to vacate immediately.”

Meanwhile, cops came back stage and requested everyone including Vivek to leave. But the star simply refused to leave the venue. When we spoke to Vivek, he said, “When I stepped out my vanity, I saw everyone running around. How could I just leave the place without ensuring the safety of people, the 100 dancers sitting backstage?”

According to Vivek, he didn’t allow the dancers to enter the make shift tents to collect their belongings. He said, “If the tent had to catch fire, the situation would worsen. I told all of them to not enter the tent as it could dangerous.”

He was also mighty impressed with the way the officials helped everyone evacuate the area. He said, “The police officers and fire brigade team ensured they first helped the ladies and the kids to have a safe exit. Even the CM was there till the very end monitoring everything.”

His vanity van, which was close to stage wasn’t starting and it had to be moved away. Vivek helped other police officers in pushing the vanity to a safer area. Ask him about what time he left the venue, Vivek said, “I left the venue around 1.30 am but hats off to the entire team who ensured no one got hurt.”