A large hotel fire in Kolkata claimed at least nine lives and injured numerous more.

Less than 48 hours after nine pilgrims perished in another hotel fire in Tarapith in the Birbhum district of West Bengal on Monday, a devastating fire at a hotel on Mirza Galib Street in central Kolkata early on Wednesday claimed the lives of at least nine people, including a child and two women, and injured six more.

Five fire trucks were sent in, according to police sources, to put out the fire that broke out on the third floor of a multi-story building near the state fire services headquarters on Free School Street at approximately two in the morning. The building had numerous other modest hotels with comfortable rooms. Personnel from the Disaster Management Department and the police arrived at the rescue site.
Eighty people have been saved from the five-story structure, according to a senior official. The majority of the dead perished from suffocation brought on by excessive smoke. They were taken to the hospital after being discovered unresponsive.
The location was visited by ministers from the Suvendu Adhikari cabinet, including Tapas Roy, Agnimitra Paul, and Kaushik Chowdhury. The identity of the deceased are still unknown, according to Fire Services Minister Kaushik Chowdhury. After visiting the location, he stated that both Bangladeshi and Indian nationals were among the dead.
“We are trying to establish their identities. The situation inside this building is very bad. There are several hotels inside this building. I am shocked to see what was going on here,” Chowdhury said. Asked about the cause of the fire, the minister said that it could be because of a short circuit. “But a forensic examination would reveal what led to the blaze,” he said.
“The building management did not comply with basic safety and construction norms. It is alleged that there were several irregularities in the functioning of the hotel,” the minister added. On Wednesday around midnight, the state government ordered an investigation to look into the fire. A special investigation team (SIT) has also been established at the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar to look into the event.
Agnimitra Paul, the minister of urban development and municipal affairs, criticised the previous Trinamool Congress administration and questioned how the Kolkata Municipal Corporation authorised so many hotels and businesses in a run-down five-story structure. She also accused the state fire brigade department during the previous regime of providing fire licences to these hotels without adequate verifications.
The injured have been sent to a Medical College Hospital in the area. Firefighters found it challenging to ascend the stairway and reach the upper stories due to the thick smoke. Nine people have already away, but additional deaths are anticipated, according to a police official.