The Rituraj hotel at Burrabazar’s Mechhuapatty turned into a gas chamber on Tuesday night with no outlet for the thick smoke sparked by a fire that claimed at least 14 lives.
The fire broke out around 7.30pm on Tuesday and was brought under control eight hours later. By then 10 men, one woman, a 10-year old girl and a 3-year old girl had succumbed. Another victim fell from a cornice while trying to escape and died on the spot.
In the 42 room hotels, there were 88 guests. According to police so far eight of the victims have been identified. Among the dead are three members of a family of five from Chennai. The fire broke out while the parents were out shopping. The children were found on the bed, while the grandfather was on the toilet floor.
Picture by Soumyajit Dey.
Another guest from Odisha’s Cuttack was scheduled to leave for his hometown on Tuesday night. Before he could check out the fire claimed his life. Another boarder was identified as Neeraj Kumar (20) from Bhagalpur. Amidst the tragedy one guest from Mumbai identified as Shyam , who had fallen asleep in his room, was found alive by the firefighters nearly four hours after the incident.
Amongst those rescued from the building, 13 had taken ill and were hospitalised. A Kolkata Police officer said only one person is still in hospital, while the remaining were discharged.
The Kolkata Police have formed a special investigation team to probe the cause of the fire, the victims of which were mostly tourists from other states.
Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, who went to the spot Wednesday morning with his cabinet colleague Shashi Panja, told newspersons the incident will be probed.
“Police will take action against any person or persons found guilty of negligence,” he said.
The state fire services minister, Sujit Bose, blamed the hotel at 6, Madan Mohan Burman Street for negligence in fire safety measures.
“The entire building was covered with glass. There was no outlet for the fire and smoke which suffocated the guests. The heavy glass panes had to be broken for the firefighters to enter. Action will be taken against the owners,” he said.
Locals alleged a water tanker near the hotel did not have adequate water to douse the flames.
Kolkata Police is looking for the owner of the hotel.
The incident rekindled memories of previous fire accidents in the city, the fire at the former AMRI Hospital in Dhakuria on December 9, 2011 which claimed the lives of 92 people, mostly patients.
A year before that in March 2010, 43 lives were lost in a fire that broke out at the Stephen Court building in Park Street. Seven years ago, more than 1,000 shops were gutted in a fire at the Bagri market, though no lives were lost.