Fire in Kolkata Hotel, Probe Ordered
A major fire broke out in Kolkata’s Burrabazar area, and 10 fire engines rushed to the spot to control the fire. The mayor and the Minister reach the spot to assess the condition.
A series of fires broke out in Central Kolkata on the eve of Tuesday evening. The incident happned in Mechua that claimed the lives of more than 14 people. A man also tried to jump from the building to escape the fire and died on the spot. The remaining 13 people died because of suffocation resulting from the fire.
As per the fire officials, there was inadequate space in fir the fire tenders to reach the area. The narrow lanes of Burrabazar, a popular market in the town, make it extremely difficult to reach the hotel. The fire started at 8:15 pm on Tuesday and was successfully extinguished by early morning on Wednesday. Moreover, 10 fire engines were also present in the dousing building, which could correctly control the fire.
The Commissioner of Police claimed that “A Total of 14 people have died in the fire at Rituraj Hotel. Further investigation is underway, and a Special Investigation Team has been formed to probe into the matter.” Rituraj Hotel is a six-story building has 42 rooms and close to 60 staff members who work in the hotel, claimed Indira Mukherjee, Deputy Commissioner of police.
After the fire had spread in the hotel, people in the nearby localities panicked, and many people jumped out of their balconies to escape from the furious fire. “The fire started on the first floor of the hotel. Our owner kept screaming and asked the customers to be rescued as he tried his best to douse the fire with buckets of water,” claimed the workers of the hotel.
City Mayor, Firhad Hakim, and Sashi Panja visited the spot to take account of the rescue operations. “Till the time forensic is not conducted, we will not know the real cause of the fire,” claimed the Mayor after checking for the relevant rescue operations. The mayor also confirmed that the fire initially started in the lower floors, which created panic among the people, and they started rushing to the top floors. Moreover, because the lower floors were highly affected, people had no other option but to climb to the terrace.
The safety and security measures of the hotel were highly questioned because of such an incident. Kolkata has seen many such incidents in the past which including the Stephen court fire dating back to 2010, and the biggest safety lapse where AMRI Hospital was under fire in 2011.
