Food chain Wow! Momo on Wednesday said it was “immersed with grief and pain” after the loss of two of its employees and a security guard in the fire at Anandapur in east Kolkata, announcing financial compensation and lifelong monetary support to the affected families.

In a statement posted on social media, the company said the fire broke out around 3am on January 26 at a neighbouring warehouse and spread into its premises, leading to the complete destruction of one of its godowns.

“On 26th January 2026, early morning at 3 am fire from our neighboring warehouse spread into our premises which led to a complete burn down of one of our warehouse premises at Anandpur, Kolkata,” the statement said.

“Our hearts are immersed with grief and pain for having lost 2 of our valued employees and a NIS contracted security guard in this entire catastrophe,” it added.

Wow! Momo said the blaze “reportedly started due to unauthorized cooking” at the adjoining warehouse. “This fire engulfed not only our men, our spirit too,” it added.

Expressing condolences, the company said, “Our hearts, our minds and our prayers go out to the families of the deceased,” and asserted that it was committed to ensuring that “the families are taken care sufficiently for life.”

While acknowledging that “such personal loss can never find compensation,” the company said it had assured the families of support beyond statutory and government benefits.

“Our promise is: a lump-sum compensation of Rs 10,00,000 per family, lifetime monthly salary paid every month to the bereaved, and education for children of the family,” the statement said.

“We are nothing without our people and our employees remain our biggest asset. Please keep us and our employees in your prayers,” Wow! Momo further said.

The company said it was “doing everything possible to support and co-operate with the respective administrative and government authorities in their various investigations.”

At least 11 people were killed and around 23 others are still missing in the massive fire that gutted two godowns at Anandapur, off Ruby crossing, in the early hours of Monday. The blaze reportedly started at a godown belonging to Pushpanjali Decorators and quickly spread to the adjoining Wow! Momo warehouse, which was taken on lease from the same owner.

Police and fire services personnel said the absence of fire safety protocols contributed to the scale of the tragedy. Narendrapur police detained Gangadhar Das, owner of Pushpanjali Decorators and the plot on which the two godowns were built.

Rescue operations continued through Tuesday, with firefighters and disaster response teams carefully entering the fire-ravaged and structurally weakened buildings to retrieve bodies feared trapped under debris, even as the risk of further collapse slowed operations.