KOLKATA: One person was killed in Siliguri district of north West Bengal in an earthquake measuring a magnitude 5.5 on the Richter scale that hit large parts of north Bengal, west Assam and north Bangladesh at around 10.20 am on Wednesday.
The victim, identified as Samrat Das (22), a resident of Santinagar in Siliguri, died after falling from the stairs while rushing out of his house during the earthquake on Wednesday morning.
No other casualties or damages were reported from any part of the state. The earthquake having epicentre in Kokrajhar in Assam caused tremors for a few seconds and caused panic among residents across districts of Coochbehar, Alipurduar, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad.
The tremors were also felt in some parts of Kolkata. Office goers rushed out of their multi-storeyed offices through fire exits at city's IT hub, Salt Lake Sector V in panic.
This is the second earthquake in the state in the last two weeks. The western parts of the state had been hit by an earthquake of magnitude 5 with epicenter at Khanakul in Hooghly district on August 28. However, no loss to life or property was reported in the earthquake.