Kolkata: Nine people people were killed late Monday evening in an inferno in a multi-storeyed building in Kolkata, which houses zonal offices of Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway. Initially the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said seven people have died. However, the toll went up to nine with the discovery of two more bodies Tuesday. The identities of the two are yet to be ascertained.
Out of the seven deceased, four were firefighters, one assistant sub-inspector posted at the Hare Street police station and one RPF personnel, West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services Minister Sujit Basu said. The seventh person is a senior official of the Railways.
The fire, which broke out in the 13th floor of the sprawling New Koilaghat building on Strand Road at around 6.10pm, is now under control and the cooling process is on, Basu said.
Mamata Banerjee rushed to the spot in the city’s central business district. She announced that the state government will pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of those killed in the blaze and government job to the kin of each victim. In a separate development Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2,00,000 to the families of the victims.
“We lost seven people. Four of them were firefighters who lost their lives inside a lift which they used to reach upstairs quickly. The lift got electrocuted. This is very unfortunate,” Banerjee said.
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The CM also went to the SSKM Hospital where the bodies, which are in ‘very bad shape’, were sent for post-mortem examination.
At least 20 fire tenders and two hydraulic ladders were pressed into service to douse the blaze at the building which also has a computerised ticket booking centre in the ground floor.
The four firefighters who died were identified as Girish Dey, Gourav Bej, Aniruddha Jana and Biman Purkayat, a senior official of the state government said.
Meanwhile doctors at the SSKM said that they are mulling DNA tests to ascertain the identity of the victims as the bodies were charred beyond recognition. The toll in the fire at the New Koilaghat Building rose to nine as two more bodies were found from an elevator in the early hours of Tuesday, officials said.
Meanwhile, police have registered a suo motu case in connection with the incident. The fire department constituted a committee to probe the mishap, officials said. The Eastern Railway has also ordered a high-level inquiry, headed by principal chief safety officer Jaideep Gupta, they said.
The railway personnel killed in the fire were identified as RPF constable Sanjay Sahni. The two others were Deputy Chief Commercial Manager Partha Sarathi Mondal and senior technician Sudip Das, police said.