KOLKATA: The death toll in the massive fire that broke out on Monday in two adjacent godowns storing inflammable items and housing a manufacturing unit of fast food at Nazirabad under Anandapur police station in the outskirts of Kolkata shot to eight, according to unconfirmed sources.
Sources say that 17 others are still trapped inside the gutted structures of the godowns.
The local police administration claimed that three people died so far in the fire and three others are still missing.
But relatives of the missing workers, many of whom are from East Midnapore and West Midnapore districts in West Bengal, claimed that around 25 persons are still untraceable inside the gutted site.
The massive fire is yet to be fully doused more than 24 hours after it broke out around 2 am on Monday, officials said on Tuesday.
As many as 12 fire tenders were pressed into service, and the blaze was largely brought under control after nearly seven hours.
However, pockets of fire continued to smoulder in several parts of the gutted structures, an official said.
The State Fire Brigade minister, Sujit Bose, this morning visited the spot after more than 24 hours following the fire incident.
He spoke to senior officials, including the Director General of Fire Services, to take stock of the situation.
Sujit said that FIR would be lodged against the culprits, who are involved in the incident, on charge not taking adequate fire safety and security measures inside the warehouses, and added that legal action would also be taken accordingly.
The minister could not come up with anything concrete about the issue related to the regular fire audit at the two units.
“Several charred bodies and skeletal remains have been recovered since Monday night, though the fire is still raging in pockets, raising fears that the toll may rise further,” he said.
Fire department sources said DNA samples will be collected from family members to identify the bodies and skeletal remains recovered from the site.
The cause of the blaze and the extent of the damage are yet to be ascertained.
During a rescue operation around 5 pm on Monday, three severely charred bodies were recovered from the adjoining godowns, while five more bodies were found later, taking the death toll to eight.