Fire in a building housing several hotels in eastern India kills 9 and injures 6

NEW DELHI: A fire broke out in a five-storey building that houses several hotels in Kolkata in the early hours of Wednesday (Aug 19), killing at least nine people and injuring six others in the capital of India’s West Bengal state, police said.

The blaze erupted around 1.45am in the building close to the West Bengal Fire Department headquarters in central Kolkata, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, describing the building as “dingy”.

Those killed included two women and a four-year-old child, police said. At least 80 people have been rescued from the building, according to the news agency, citing a senior official.

Koushik Chowdhury, a state minister, said after visiting the site that some among the dead were Bangladeshi nationals, PTI reported.

The minister said many of the victims were believed to have died from smoke inhalation. Several people were unable to escape to safety and some rooms lacked windows, he said, adding that rescue teams managed to save a couple from a room that had a window.

The government would conduct fire safety inspections at hotels across the state in the wake of the blaze, the minister said.

Authorities said the fire was brought under control and that their immediate focus was on rescuing anyone still trapped inside and investigating the cause of the fire, which was not immediately known.

Forensic experts were collecting evidence at the scene and an investigation was launched into the cause of the fire and whether safety regulations were followed, police told PTI.

Chowdhury said a short circuit may have caused the fire.

Firefighters struggled to reach people trapped on the upper floors as thick smoke engulfed the building, a police officer told the news agency.

Five fire engines were deployed to bring the blaze under control, while police and disaster management teams carried out rescue operations, the report said. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Deadly fires, often linked to electrical faults or gas cylinder explosions, are common in India, where investigators have frequently pointed to safety lapses and inadequate enforcement of fire regulations as contributing to recurring loss of life.

On Monday, a blaze at a hotel in West Bengal’s temple town of Tarapith left at least seven people dead and several others critically injured.

In December, at least 25 people were killed after a fire ripped through a popular nightclub in western Goa state.