Kolkata: Seven people are feared to have died dead after a huge fire broke out Monday evening in a building in central Kolkata’s Strand Road. Senior ministers and police officers have reached the spot and firefighters are trying to put out the blaze. The first started on the 13th floor of the New Koila Ghat building which incidentally at around 6.30pm in the evening. The building is home to many departments of Eastern Railway.
Sources said that all those who died are firefighting personnel. They had gone up to the 12th floor in a lift. However, they failed to get out of the lift and died of suffocation. Efforts are on to bring the bodies out of the deceased. There are unconfirmed reports that a security personnel of the building may have died.
The 13th floor where the fire first started is the server room of the Indian Railways. It has been gutted completely and hence reservation of train tickets will be hit badly. Power in the entire area has been switched off to prevent the spread of fire. There are a large number of high rises in the locality.