Thursday, 26 February 2026
Thursday, 26 February 2026
At least eight people have died and more than 12 others are missing in the fire that broke out at the storage units in Anandapur’s Nazirabad, near Calcutta, on the morning of January 26.
Bengal fire services minister Sujit Bose and director general of police (fire services) Ranvir Kumar – responsible for keeping the city safe from fire accidents – reached the site on Tuesday, a day after the fire broke out and firefighters fought to bring the flames under control.
The fire erupted in the wee hours of Monday in a decorator’s storage unit and spread to an adjacent fast-food factory. Around 20 people were believed to have been inside the storage facility and the factory when the fire broke out, though it is not clear whether they were sleeping or working.
Families of some of the missing persons have lodged a complaint with the Baruipur police.
The missing workers have been identified as Sujit Singh, Bimal Maity, Subrata Khara, Nantu Khara, Kartik Jana, Raju Manna, Soumitra Mandal, Buddhadeb Jana, Gurupada Sahoo,Krishnendu Dhara, Biswajit Sahoo, Anup Prasdhan, Basudeb Haldar and Pankaj Haldar.
Most of the men missing are from Pingla, Moyna, Nandakumar, Sutahata and Tamluk.
“More than 20 are reportedly missing in the horrific fire tragedy at Anandapur, with many yet to be identified. Most of the victims were very young and were sole bread earners of their families,” said Suvendu Adhikari, leader of Opposition in the Bengal Assembly.
Till Monday evening a thick cover of smoke had made it impossible for the firefighters to enter the gutted premises and look for the survivors, if any.
Monday night onwards, charred bodies and skeletal remains have been recovered from the accident site.
Fire department sources said DNA samples will be collected from family members to identify the bodies and skeletal remains recovered from the site.
Minister Bose said he would have to check whether the factory and the storage unit were being run illegally.
“I have spoken with the director-general of police (fire services). I could not see any fire extinguishers inside the premises. Fire audit is held for every commercial and industrial unit. Whether the fire audit was conducted in these two places needs to be verified,” Bose said.
DG (fire services) Ranvir Kumar said the storage unit and the factory did not have the clearances from the fire department necessary for running any commercial activity.
Kumar, however, would not answer how the units could run and provide employment without papers.
“If there is any negligence it would be looked into,” he said.
Adhikari blamed the state government for the loss of lives and demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident.
“This is not a mere accident, it is the direct consequence of the Mamata Banerjee government’s chronic negligence, incompetence and utter failure in governance,” the BJP leader alleged. “Lack of administrative checks and balances and scrutiny, lead to disregard for rules and ultimately cause such loss of lives.”
He alleged that large tracts of land around the East Kolkata Wetlands, a Ramsar site, has been converted and sold for commercial purposes.
“People were trapped inside the locked warehouses filled with inflammable materials, with no escape routes, narrow lanes blocking rescue and zero fire safety measures,” he said. “How did this happen? How were workers forced to sleep overnight in such dangerous godowns, just on the outskirts of Calcutta, without anyone knowing?”
