A 61-year-old from Tamil Nadu and his two grandchildren stayed back in the hotel while his son and daughter-in-law went out to get dinner. All three at the hotel are now dead.
Two Allahabad siblings in their 30s who had travelled to Calcutta to purchase rakhis for their boutique also died. One choked inside the room while the other was found outside.
Heart-wrenching stories have emerged from Rituraj Hotel in central Calcutta, where a devastating fire on Tuesday night killed 14 people, mostly guests.
The deceased include 11 men, one woman and two children.
The preliminary police inquiry has revealed that all but one of the deaths were from choking in thick smoke. One of the victims — a hotel employee — died after having jumped from a cornice trying to save his life.
Most of those dead were guests at the hotel who could not open their sealed windows when smoke gushed in. Nor did they have a clear idea of the escape route — whether to head to the stairwell or the terrace.
The designated fire exit was allegedly blocked and could not be used. The fire safety gadgets did not work.
Fire minister Sujit Bose said an illegal dance floor was being constructed at the hotel at 6, Madan Mohan Burman Street in Mechua, the fruit wholesale hub off Raja Katra in Burrabazar. The hotel is about 250m from Central Avenue.
The fire department has lodged a formal complaint against the building owners for allegedly running the commercial establishment without a valid fire licence.
The police said a search had been launched for the owner, Akash Chawla. His brother, co-owner Vivek Chawla, is no more. They are also looking for one of Chawla’s cousins.
According to Kolkata Municipal Corporation records, the establishment is registered in the name of Balaram Properties Pvt Ltd with its owners mentioned as Akash Chawla “and others”. The nature of trade has been mentioned as “hotel without star and without bar”, sources in the police said.
The five-storey hotel with 43 occupied rooms had 88 guests and 60 staff members when it caught fire late on Tuesday night.
The police said 99 people who were trapped inside were rescued. Thirteen people who were rescued and admitted to hospitals have been treated and discharged.
Renovation work for the extension of a bar adjoining the kitchen was being carried out on the first floor, where the fire is suspected to have originated, said director-general (fire) Ranveer Kumar.
The hotel owner, who is from Howrah, has been missing since the fire broke out. The hotel’s manager has been detained. A formal case has been lodged atJorasanko police station based on a complaint by thestate fire and emergency services.
An 11-member special investigation team led by deputy commissioner (central)-II has been formed to probe the tragedy.
Parallelly, another committee has been announced by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to investigate if the building had valid permits and if the renovation and extension work had the mandatory clearances.
The team will comprise officials from the building, licensing and revenue departments of the KMC. A representative each from KolkataPolice and the state fire and emergency services will also be part of the team, which will be headed by the KMC commissioner.
The fire broke out around 8pm on Tuesday. One of those inside, hotel employee Manoj Paswan, slid out onto a cornice on the third floor and jumped in panic. He died on the spot. Another person, Sanjay Das, also jumped but survived.
Akash Agwarwal, 39, one of the guests who, along with his family, survived the fire, said: “My nephew, who was downstairs, phoned to alert me about the fire. I thought that my family and I would run down to safety. But the moment I opened the door, a thick black wave of smoke hit me in my face. I shut the door and tried to look for an opening in the window. Luckily, I found one.”
Not all guests were lucky.
Several others who could sneak out of a window stood precariously on cornices waiting for the firemen to rescue them. They were eventually evacuated after close to an hour.
Many who thought it would be safe to stay put in their rooms were fatally wrong. Most of them choked to death after inhaling smoke, the police said.
Two bodies were found near the terrace, one was at the staircase between the first and second floors, while the remaining 10 were in their respective rooms.
Officials of the fire and emergency services found plywood, adhesive and other inflammable articles on the first floor where the extension work was on.
“Plywood and adhesive, if burned, give rise to thick black fumes. That is what happened in this case. The fumes spread to the entire building,” said a divisional fire officer.
Survivors said there were water sprinklers in their rooms, but none worked.
“If at least the fire alarm had worked, many lives could have been saved,” said a senior fire department official.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh to thenext of kin of each deceased. The injured will get ₹50,000 each.
BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also sanctioned an ex gratia for the victims. “The support of ₹2 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased and ₹50,000 for the injured,” Majumdar posted on X.