Mumbai, Oct. 24 -- A combination of fear and relief hung in the air at the HBT Trauma Care Hospital's intensive care unit on Thursday afternoon as nine people who had narrowly escaped the fire lay recuperating. "When we heard the glass windows beneath cracking, we were sure this would be our last day," said Nadeem Abu Bhati, 43, his hands covered in soot. Bhati was then holed up at the physiotherapy clinic on the 13th floor with his 60-year-old father Abu Hussain and several other patients. "First, we smelt the smoke," said Bhati, who had been visiting the clinic daily of late with his father. The crowd in the commercial building was thinner than usual, he said, likely because it was the first half of the day and many establishments were shut. "To figure out what was happening, someone opened a window, which proved to be a mistake as smoke came flooding in, choking us," he said. "All of us made calls to alert our families and friends." The physiotherapist, Salim Javed, 48, recalled everyone panicking. "I made sure everyone had clothes and blankets to cover their noses, and sprayed water everywhere," he said, holding his oxygen mask aside. "We closed the windows and packed ourselves in." He and a patient then ran up to the terrace above, but found the door locked. "When they came down again, hoping to find something to break the door with, the smoke had thickened so much that we couldn't even see our fingers," Bhati recalled. Some time later, they saw fire brigade personnel spraying water into the affected floors. Videos of the incident circulating on social media showed Javed sticking his head out from the clinic's window, trying to attract their attention. The fire brigade rescued three persons from the 13th floor using hydraulic platforms while the remaining people climbed down to the 12th floor, said Bhati. Three more people were rescued from the 12th floor via an external ladder and the others were escorted to safety via the staircase, he added. "I fell unconscious while climbing down the stairs and was carried down by the fire brigade," said Javed as he coughed up soot, hours after he had been rescued. Thursday was his last day at the building as the lease for his clinic was due to expire, he said. According to the fire brigade, 27 people were rescued from the building within half an hour of the fire being reported. Among those rescued, 17 were taken to the HBT Trauma Care Hospital for treatment. "The patients were suffocated and anxious, so we checked them and gave them some oxygen," said the hospital's medical superintendent, Pravin Bangar. Eight patients were discharged against medical advice after preliminary treatment, perhaps because they wanted to seek treatment elsewhere, Bangar said. Nine remaining patients, including Bhati, his father and Javed, were kept under observation through the day. As their condition was stable, they were all discharged in the evening, the superintendent added....