MUMBAI, India — Aksheeta Doshi Shroff and a few family members were relaxing at 1 Above, a rooftop restaurant in a trendy district of Mumbai, when a small fire broke out shortly after midnight on Friday.

In the first few moments, Ms. Shroff said, patrons at 1 Above did not seem panicked. Some, she said, laughed and took pictures of the flames. Music continued playing. She saw no attempt by staff to evacuate, and heard no alarms.

[Read: ‘There were no safety features’: Outrage follows New Delhi fire.]

But the fire turned lethal, and by the early morning, 14 people were dead at 1 Above and a neighboring restaurant, Mojo’s Bistro. Three people at 1 Above have been charged with culpable homicide, and several municipal officials were suspended for failing to enforce fire safety codes.

The fire quickly engulfed the rooftop, with flames spreading along cloth canopies that collapsed on people’s heads as alcohol bottles exploded. There were no sprinklers or fire extinguishers, Ms. Shroff and two other witnesses said, and no clearly marked escape route. She had to jump a glass barrier in the restaurant to make her way out.

Ms. Shroff, 30, ended up at King Edward Memorial Hospital with burn injuries.

“So many people have died in front of me,” said Ms. Shroff, who had to cut off 30 percent of her hair after pieces of the burning canopy and tarpaulin fell on her head.

She had watched emergency workers trying to revive young victims of the fire, she said: “Parents were crying, screaming. It was horrific.”

Fires and building collapses are common in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, especially in older buildings and lower-income neighborhoods. Corruption and lax oversight have allowed unregulated building projects to sprout across this cramped city, home to more than 18 million people.

But the two restaurants that burned on Friday were in Lower Parel, a former mill area now full of fashionable bars, bistros and new luxury high-rises. They were part of the Kamala Mills compound, a set of recently renovated former industrial buildings that, along with the neighboring Todi Mill, draw hordes of young professionals every night.