At least 14 people, including two children, lost their lives in Kolkata on Tuesday night after a fire swept through a six-storey hotel located in a densely populated area, according to authorities.
The fire was reported around 8:15 p.m. and was first detected in a room close to the kitchen on the first floor of the Rituraj Hotel, police sources said.
Flames and smoke soon engulfed the entire building in the central business area of Burrabazar, the sources said, adding that almost all of the 45 rooms in the hotel were occupied and that about 50 people were in the building at the time.
Deaths Due To Asphyxiation
Most bodies were found on the staircase of the hotel, and asphyxiation was suspected to be the main cause of death, said Sujit Bose, the fire and emergency services minister of West Bengal.
Eight bodies had been identified so far, Bose said.
“The forensic team is visiting the site today (Wednesday), and an inquiry has been ordered to find out the cause of the fire. It will also look into why the hotel’s inbuilt firefighting system did not work,” Bose said.
Many guests of the hotel managed to escape on time, but one person jumped from the roof out of fear and died, Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim told reporters.
Dozens Rescued
Five people were rescued from their rooms, around 20 from the roof while some were also rescued from balconies, Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma told reporters.
Some people took shelter on narrow ledges outside their windows and were rescued by firefighters who reached them through hydraulic ladders, said a local police official, who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Video from Indian news agency ANI showed firefighters using megaphones to address those gathered on the ledges and the roof, requesting them to remain calm and wait for rescuers to reach them.
(With inputs from Reuters)
