Two young men from Haldia, who came to Calcutta to work as flower arrangers for a decorator, narrowly escaped a warehouse that was engulfed in flames early on Monday.
On Tuesday, Manabendra Khara said that most of his colleagues were feared dead.
Khara managed to grab his phone in the blinding darkness and found his way through the choking air around.
Khara recalled how he escaped the inferno.
We were asleep just like on any other day. At about 3.30am, I was awakened by the screams of people yelling ‘fire’. It was completely dark. I could barely breathe.
I was wearing only my shorts. Somehow, I managed to grab my phone and my jacket. I called my father and informed him that there was a fire and that I was trapped. My father told me to get out of the warehouse at any cost.
I tried to rush towards the entrance, but there was too much smoke there. It was increasingly getting difficult to breathe. I was gasping for air. There was only black smoke and tremendous heat.
Suddenly, I spotted one of my friends, Sujit Gaunia. He is also from my hometown.
Sujit Gaunia
Sujit was choking. He was lying on the floor and barely able to walk.
There was another man whose face I could not see, but we three managed to crawl out of the warehouse entrance. People were screaming. There was fire all around us. The last thing I recall was that a man who also came out with us went inside again to bring his bag. I lost consciousness after that.
When I opened my eyes, I found that my brother Manas had already come to get me and had taken me in a taxi. The relief I felt at the sight of my brother’s face is indescribable.
My friend Sujit was also there, but the man who had gone inside was nowhere around. Maybe he did not make it back. Sujit later told me that he fell while trying to get off the staircase and injured his waist.
We reached Diamond Harbour in the taxi, where we waited for a ferry to reach Haldia. The taxi driver charged us ₹3,000.
By the time I reached home, it was past 4pm — over 12 hours after the fire started.
Much later, I saw on TV that not many managed to escape and that the police and fire department officials were looking for their remains.