KOLKATA: Nine people, including five Bangladeshi nationals, were killed and six others injured in a devastating fire at a hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street in central Kolkata early Wednesday, less than 48 hours after nine pilgrims were killed in another hotel fire in Tarapith, Birbhum district, on Monday.
According to police sources, five fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the blaze, which erupted on the third floor of a multi-storey building housing several small hotels with cramped rooms, close to the state Fire Services headquarters on Free School Street, around 2 am. Police and Disaster Management Department personnel also reached the spot to assist in the rescue operation.
According to a senior official, around 80 people were rescued from the five-storey building. Most of the deceased, including a four-year-old child and two women, died of suffocation caused by thick smoke. They were found unconscious and rushed to hospital.
Expressing shock over the incident, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari attacked the previous Trinamool Congress government, accusing it of gross negligence.
Ministers including Tapas Roy, Agnimitra Paul and Kaushik Chowdhury visited the spot.
Fire Services Minister Kaushik Chowdhury said the identities of those killed were yet to be established. The deceased included both Indian and Bangladeshi nationals, he said after visiting the site.
“We are trying to establish their identities. The situation inside this building is very bad. There are several hotels inside this building. I am shocked to see what was going on here,” Chowdhury said.
Asked about the cause of the fire, the minister said it could have been caused by a short circuit. “But a forensic examination would reveal what led to the blaze,” he said.
“The building management did not comply with basic safety and construction norms. It is alleged that there were several irregularities in the functioning of the hotel,” the minister added.
The state government ordered an inquiry into the fire late on Wednesday night. Lalbazar, the headquarters of the Kolkata Police, has also formed a special investigation team (SIT) to inquire into the incident.
Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Agnimitra Paul accused the previous Trinamool Congress government of negligence, questioning how the Kolkata Municipal Corporation had approved so many hotels and establishments in a cramped five-storey building.
She also accused the state Fire Services department under the previous regime of issuing fire licences to the hotels without proper verification.
Most of the boarders, including several Bangladeshi nationals, had come to Kolkata from different parts of the state and elsewhere for medical treatment. They stayed in the hotels in the building because of the low room rates, which ranged from Rs 500 to Rs 800.
Mohammed Asaful Jamal and his brother, residents of Dhaka, said they had come to Kolkata for business and for the treatment of Asaful's brother at a private hospital along the EM Bypass. They were staying at the hotel when the fire broke out.
“We woke up after hearing the sudden screams of other boarders shouting ‘aagun, aagun’ (fire) in sheer panic,” Asaful said.
“We, along with others, came out of our rooms and rushed upstairs to the terrace, braving the black smoke. Later, the fire brigade and disaster management personnel rescued us,” he said, adding that he was still traumatised by the incident.
The injured were taken to a nearby Medical College Hospital.
“The dense smoke made it difficult for firefighters to climb the staircase and reach the upper floors. While nine people have died, more deaths are feared,” a police officer said.
“Our priority is to rescue those trapped and determine the reasons for the fire. The flames have been doused, and the cooling process is underway,” he added.
The West Bengal Fire Services headquarters is located close to the hotel building.
Sitaram Paswan, uncle of 19-year-old deceased Sandip Paswan, broke down in tears at the hospital.
“His father died about four years ago. I brought Sandip from Giridih in Jharkhand and helped him get a job as a sweeper at the hotel. But I could never imagine hearing this news,” Sitaram said.
Sitting outside the emergency building at the hospital, he said, “I identified the body and found burns on his face.”
The owner of the fire-ravaged hotel, Sikha Inn, Bireswar Mitra, who reportedly also runs another hotel, Jaapon, opposite it on Mirza Ghalib Street, is absconding. Employees said they had repeatedly tried to contact him by phone after the fire broke out, but his phone was switched off.
Indradev Paswan, an employee of Sikha Inn, said, “We are repeatedly trying to contact our owner by phone, but it has been switched off since the fire broke out.”
Meanwhile, in the Tarapith incident, hotel owner Kalyan Paul and his father, Prabir Paul, have been arrested by the police.