Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 17: At least eight people, mainly pilgrim, were killed and many others, several of them critically, injured in a massive fire that broke out in a private hotel in the temple town of Tarapith in Birbhum district in West Bengal early on Monday morning.
The fire was spotted around 4 am on the ground floor of the four-storey hotel building when most of the guests were asleep, officials said. Among the deceased were believed to be five pilgrims from Meghalaya and three from Alipurduar in West Bengal. Fire tenders immediately rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control.
The fire spread rapidly through decorative and fibre materials inside the hotel. Smoke billowed to the upper floors and trapped several guests in their rooms. Photos and videos from the spot showed firefighting officials and the police trying to douse the massive blaze. Locals were also seen assisting the officials. Although the situation has been brought under control, locals fear that the death count could rise. The police also arrested the hotel owner and were questioning on the fire safety measures installed in the hotel.
The fire reportedly broke out in one of the AC units of the hotel and rapidly spread. Preliminary investigation suggests that the hotel lacked basic fire safety measures and the fire alarm failed at the crucial moment. “Neither smoke nor flames were visible from the outside. Police and fire brigade teams arrived at the scene; 22 people were rescued using ladders, and 11 others were sent to the hospital… 8 people have lost their lives in this incident… an FSL team will arrive here. The hotel operators have been taken into custody after an FIR was registered; we are questioning them and are proceeding with further action and investigation,” Birbhum SP Vidit Raj Bhundesh told reporters.
He said, “The fire might have been caused by a short circuit at the ground floor. Later it spread across few other floors too. However, the fact will be ascertained following a thorough investigation,” the SP said According to the Police Officer, the front gate of the hotel was closed and only a back gate was open due to which the residents could not exit timely. “We have protected the PO [point of occurrence]. We have requisitioned FSL. We have detained the son of the hotel owner and strict legal action will be taken,” he said.
Later 22 fire tenders were pressed into service at the spot and brought the blaze under control after about three hours. Hotel officials claimed the fire was caused by a short circuit. The arrested owner, Kalyan Paul, of the hotel ‘Bideshini’, close to the Tarapith Kali temple, claimed that there were no loopholes in the hotel’s fire safety measures and that there was an exit door at the back of the building.
“Electricity connections in the hotel were snapped by our staff soon after the fire was spotted early this morning. The entire hotel complex suddenly plunged into darkness and, as a result, boarders could not come out of the hotel. The anxious boarders could not find the exit door because of the darkness and smoke caused by the fire. They tried to come out of the hotel through its reception centre and directly faced the fire,” Kalyan, who also sustained injuries, told reporters at the spot.
According to police and fire brigade sources, 22 injured people, including nine unconscious victims, were rescued. Many of the injured have been discharged after treatment at the state-run teaching hospital.
The injured were taken to the Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital. According to officials, the incident happened at a time when people have swelled Tarapith to offer prayers at the famous Kali temple.
Thousands of pilgrims from across the state had come to the temple town of Tarapith to offer ‘puja’ at the temple. Many boarders of the fire-ravaged hotel found that the flames were rushing towards their rooms, virtually engulfing them, when they opened their doors early on Monday morning. They closed the doors as soon as they saw the flames and tried to call the local fire services and police station for help.
The pilgrims alleged that they had no idea about the exit door at the back and could not find any other way out of the hotel because of the darkness. They also said that most of the rooms became suffocating due to smoke and the lack of windows. Many of them fell ill due to suffocation inside the rooms.
A pilgrim from Cooch Behar district in the state told the media, “I was in the second-floor room of the hotel. Somehow, I managed to come down through the rainpipe of the verandah. We were sleeping but woke up after hearing a sudden cry from outside. I opened the door and found massive fire and smoke engulfing the hotel. I don’t know anything more about how I came down through the pipe.”
Nilesh Srikant, additional superintendent of police of Birbhum, said, “The injured have been admitted to the Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital. Police are investigating into the incident.”
A female guest, who was from Kolkata, said the entire hotel was engulfed by the smoke and many couldn’t escape due to it, while adding that several people also faced difficulty in breathing. “Suddenly, the entire hotel was engulfed in smoke. We could not breathe, and it was hard to find an escape route,” she said. Another guest said he was trapped in his room with his wife and two children for nearly 45 minutes. “We could not come out of the door because of the blaze. Since the room had no window, they escaped through an opening near the bathroom ceiling,” he said.