The building on Prince Anwar Shah Road where smoke trapped eight people. Picture by Amit Datta

Eight people were trapped on the third floor of a five-storeyed building on Prince Anwar Shah Road when a short-circuit in meter boxes at the base of the staircase filled it with thick smoke on Monday afternoon.

Employees of a confectionery shop and restaurant on the building’s ground floor and a maternity clinic and dentist’s chamber on the first floor were the first to see the smoke. They vacated the building, near Lords crossing, within minutes. Those in the office of an HR firm on the second floor also left the building before smoke filled the staircase.

The sales officers of Deluxe Bearings Ltd, on the third floor, noticed a dip in voltage around 2pm. “We were taking a tea break when we noticed a fluctuation in voltage. The lights dimmed, so we shut down the computers,” said employee Amitava Chowdhury.

“We tried to get out of the building when the lights went out with a loud sound. The staircase was filled with thick black smoke, which made it impossible for us to go down,” said Chowdhury’s colleague Gopal Chandra Dey.

Maya Bahadur, 45, the wife of a security guard, who was stuck on the fourth floor, joined them. They closed the doors to their floor to prevent the smoke from getting into the rooms and opened the windows at the back and started shouting for help.

The eight climbed down pipes and a bamboo scaffolding propped up at the back of the building.

Bahadur was taken to a private hospital after she complained of breathing problems. Binoy Sarkar, 55, suffered cuts and bruises on his right hand when he fell to the ground from the scaffolding.

“We received a call around 2.15pm and a fire tender was sent to the spot,” said a fireman. “There was no fire, but a short-circuit had resulted in a lot of smoke. The situation was brought under control by 3pm.”