At least 14 people, including 2 children, died last night in a fire at a hotel in the Indian city of Kolkata, world agencies reported, citing authorities. The fire broke out in the 6-storey hotel in a densely populated area, BTA reported.
The first alarm about the fire was raised at around 8:15 am local time from a room near the kitchen on the first floor of the "Rituraj" hotel, police sources said.
The flames and smoke quickly engulfed the entire building, located in the central business district in the "Burabazar" neighborhood, the sources added, specifying that at that time almost all 45 hotel rooms were occupied and there were about 50 people in the building.
Most of the bodies of the deceased were found on the hotel's staircase, and the main cause of death is believed to be suffocation, said Sujit Bose, fire and emergency services minister in the state of West Bengal, whose capital is Kolkata.
Eight bodies have been identified so far, Bose said. "A forensic team will visit the site today and we have filed a request to find out the cause of the fire. The team will also investigate why the hotel's in-built fire suppression system failed," he added.
Many of the hotel guests managed to escape in time, but one person jumped out of a window and died, Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim told reporters.
Five people were rescued from their rooms and about 20 from the roof of the building. Several people were also rescued from balconies, a police official said. Some people managed to climb onto narrow ledges outside windows, from where they were later pulled down by firefighters, another police officer added.