Hotel fire kills 9 in India’s Kolkata

Hotel fire kills 9 in India's Kolkata.

Key points

• Atiyar Rehman, a guest from Satkhira in Bangladesh, informed the English-language daily that the hotel had no fire safety system.
• "Nine people, including a child, were killed in the fire that broke out early on Wednesday, " Anuj Sharma, the fire services director of West Bengal state, informed AFP.
• Preliminary information suggested an air conditioner at the budget Shika Inn hotel may have exploded and caused the blaze, Sharma remarked.
• The Indian Express newspaper, quoting police sources, remarked three of the dead were from Bangladesh.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarked he was "extremely pained" to learn concerning the loss of life.

Summary Building fires are common in India due to a lack of firefighting equipment and routine disregard for safety regulations.

> KOLKATA (AFP) – A fire ripped through a hotel in the Indian city of Kolkata on Wednesday, killing nine individuals, authorities stated, with investigators suspecting a faulty air conditioner may be the cause.

"Thick smoke enveloped the hotel. Some victims were discovered in the bathrooms."

Notably, a forensic team was deployed to examine the scene after the fire had been brought under control.

Sixty guests were staying at the hotel, police remarked in an official note. Media reports remarked six residents were injured and taken to hospital for treatment.

On Monday, eight individuals died in a fire at a hotel in the state's holy town of Tarapith, where Hindu devotees had gathered for the sacred month of Shravan.

Some of the victims of Wednesday's fire were probable Bangladeshi nationals who had travelled to Kolkata for medical treatment, stated Santosh Pathak, a member of West Bengal's ruling party.

"We are trying to confirm the nationality of the victims, " he remarked to journalists.

For context, the Indian Express newspaper, quoting police sources, remarked three of the dead were from Bangladesh.

"We woke up struggling to breathe in the smoke. We somehow managed to escape, " Rehman remarked.

"May the injured recover at the earliest. The local administration is assisting those who are affected, " he remarked in a social media post.

West Bengal's fire minister, Kaushik Chaudhary, remarked police were probing feasible safety lapses at the hotel, located in a crowded and busy quarter of the city.

Firefighters applied ladders to scale the building, secure inside through the windows and rescue individuals trapped inside.

"The dense smoke made it difficult for firefighters to climb the staircase and reach the upper floors, " a police officer was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency. Pakistan seeks $10bn facility from US, progress projected in Sept: FinMin. Syrian foreign minister arrives in Pakistan on two-day official visit today. Barrister Gohar notes Imran Khan not negotiating any agreement.

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For now, hotel fire kills 9 in Indias Kolkata remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.