Nine killed in Kolkata hotel blaze, with Bangladeshi medical travellers among the dead
Nine people died after a fire tore through a hotel building in central Kolkata in the early hours of Wednesday, with police and fire officials
Nine people died after a fire tore through a hotel building in central Kolkata in the early hours of Wednesday, with police and fire officials saying the victims appear to be Bangladeshi nationals who had come to the city for medical treatment. Six others were injured in the blaze, which broke out around 2 a.m. on Mirza Ghalib Street.
The fire spread through a multi-hotel building in one of Kolkata’s busiest central districts, where several small inns cater to out-of-town visitors. Firefighters rescued at least 15 people from the site, while another official said about 80 people were pulled out of the five-storey structure during the operation. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital.
Smoke choked the upper floors
Police said the nine deaths were caused by suffocation from thick smoke. A senior officer said the dense smoke made it hard for firefighters to climb the staircase and reach guests on the upper floors. The blaze had been brought under control by the time rescue work shifted into cooling operations.
Five fire tenders were sent to the scene. Police and disaster management staff also joined the rescue effort. The building sits on a congested stretch of Mirza Ghalib Street, also known in older references as Free School Street, where older hotel blocks have long served travellers, including many from Bangladesh.
Identity of the dead under verification
Kolkata police initially identified all the dead as Bangladeshi nationals, and officials said passports found at the scene suggested the victims were from Bangladesh. But they also said verification was still under way to confirm whether the documents belonged to the dead. Fire department minister Kaushik Chowdhury said the authorities were trying to establish the identities and that the situation inside the building was extremely bad.
Local reports cited by Indian media said the fire may have started on the second floor of the Sikha Inn, with some accounts suggesting an air-conditioner explosion as a possible trigger. Officials have not confirmed the cause and said the investigation is continuing.
West Bengal Fire Department headquarters is located close to the building, underscoring how quickly the blaze spread and how difficult the rescue became once smoke filled the stairwell. Authorities are now focused on identifying the dead and establishing what set off the fire.
