A 65-year-old woman was killed after a fire broke out in an apartment at Andul in West Bengal’s Howrah district on Wednesday afternoon, police said.
At least 12 people residing on other floors of the five-storey building were rescued by locals, police and fire brigade personnel.
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“The fire started around 1 pm on the second floor of the five-storey building. It probably started from the kitchen. A 65-year-old woman, who was alone in the house, was killed. Her charred body was recovered. The victim was identified as Gopa Mukherjee,” an officer said.
Local youths tried to douse the flames and informed the Domjur police station and the fire brigade.
“Five fire tenders were pressed into action. The fire was doused in around an hour. When the fire brigade officials went inside, they found the charred remains,” a fire brigade official said.
Also Read: Child among 9 dead as massive fire breaks out at Kolkata hotel
{{/usCountry}}Also Read: Child among 9 dead as massive fire breaks out at Kolkata hotel
{{/usCountry}}A resident recalled escaping the fire. “I was in the house. The maid alerted me after getting a smell of something burning. There was a feeling of suffocation and I asked her to check the kitchen. When she found nothing, she went out of the apartment to check. Immediately she came running and said that there was a fire on the second floor. We rushed out of the building,” he said.
Last week, at least nine people were killed and 60 were rescued after a fire broke out in a hotel in central Kolkata in the early hours. It was the second such incident in West Bengal within a week after a fire in a hotel at Tarapith, a temple town in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, killed nine people, including two children. Seven of the dead were Bangladeshis.