At least 14 people, including two children, died in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata yesterday when a fire blazed through a six-storey hotel in a congested neighbourhood, authorities said.
The fire was first detected in a room close to the kitchen on the first floor of the Rituraj Hotel, police sources said.
Flames and smoke soon engulfed the entire building in the central business area of Burrabazar, the sources said, adding that almost all of the 45 rooms in the hotel were occupied and that about 50 people were in the building at the time.
Most dead bodies were found in the staircase of the hotel and asphyxiation was suspected to be the main cause of death, said Sujit Bose, the fire and emergency services minister of West Bengal state, of which Kolkata is the capital.
Eight bodies had been identified so far, Bose said.
“The forensic team is visiting the site today and an inquiry has been ordered to find out the cause of the fire. It will also look into why the hotel’s inbuilt fire fighting system did not work,” Bose said.
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