E-Paper
Kolkata hotel fire: Staffers, guests jump; boy vanishes in blaze as flames engulf 6-storey building; 14 dead
The fire broke out at a budget hotel in central Kolkata. One hotel staff member died after jumping from one of the floors.
It was business as usual for Rituraj Hotel in Mechhuapatti, located in central Kolkata’s crowded Burrabazar neighbourhood, on Tuesday — until a devastating fire engulfed the six-storey building, killing 14 people, including a woman and two children.
The fire, which broke out at the budget hotel housing 88 occupants in 42 rooms, was spotted around 7:30–8pm. Within minutes, thick smoke spread through the corridors, blinding and choking guests who scrambled to escape.
Also Read | Kolkata: At least 14 persons, including 2 children, killed in hotel fire
Photos and videos showed people trying to flee through windows and narrow ledges of the building.
One hotel staff member, identified as Manoj Paswas, died after jumping from one of the floors.
“Several boarders and hotel staff climbed up the stairs and went to the roof and upper-floor balconies when smoke filled the rooms and corridors. One of them panicked and jumped,” a fire brigade official told Hindustan Times.
Some guests were seen leaning out of windows and screaming for help. A boy reportedly cried out for his mother before vanishing in the blaze, while another man jumped from the fourth floor to escape, fracturing his leg.
At least 10 fire engines were pressed into action, and firefighters battled the blaze for nearly 10 hours before bringing it under control on Wednesday morning.
Several people were rescued from the upper floors, but many could not be saved. A senior police officer confirmed that 14 people—including 11 men, a woman, a boy, and a girl—died in the incident. Thirteen others were injured, some of them critically, he added.
“I was on the second floor when the power went out. I opened the door and saw smoke coming in. People were shouting and running. I tried to knock on other doors,” news agency PTI quoted Abdul Karim, a trader from Murshidabad, as saying.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to determine the cause of the fire.
“The building has been sealed. Our forensic team will examine it thoroughly,” the officer said.
The lanes around Mechhuapatti, a commercial zone with shops and warehouses, remained cordoned off on Wednesday morning, as charred belongings and burnt window frames bore silent witness to the tragedy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X that he was “anguished” by the loss of lives in the fire.
(With inputs from PTI)
