Kolkata Hotel Fire Claims Nine Lives, Including a Child and Five Bangladeshi Nationals
New Delhi: Kolkata's Mirza Ghalib Street witnessed a fire break out in a five-storey building that houses 10 hotels. Nine people, including five Bangladeshis and one identified as a resident of Jharkhand, were killed. The deceased included six men, two women, and a child.
Fire and Emergency Services minister Kaushik Chowdhury told reporters around 80 people were rescued.
The fact that most rooms did not have windows is widely being reported in connection with the fire which broke out around 1:45 am today at a hotel, Shikha Inn, on Mirza Ghalib Street, near the New Market area. PTI reported, citing police, that five fire tenders, along with police and disaster management personnel, joined the rescue operations. Dense smoke made it difficult for firefighters to reach the upper floors.
Bengal's minister of urban development and municipal affairs, Agnimitra Paul alleged that these hotels do not have trade licences or fire licences and added that proper compensation will be given to the families.
Minister Chowdhury alleged that there had been "widespread corruption" in fire-safety arrangements and that the government wanted to identify such illegalities through a statewide audit. "The building management did not comply with basic safety and construction norms," the minister added.
Kolkata Police have set up a six-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a Deputy Commissioner-rank officer of the detective department to probe the fire. New Market police station has registered a suo motu case, while the state Fire and Emergency Services Department has lodged a separate complaint.
An official of the fire department said a similar audit was conducted after the Rituraj Hotel fire in April 2025 that claimed 14 lives, but the report was not submitted to the department or the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
The Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this afternoon that local authorities are yet to confirm the identities of four of the victims. The ministry said that six injured Bangladeshi nationals were discharged after receiving initial treatment. According to The Daily Star, all affected individuals had traveled from Bangladesh to Kolkata for medical care.
Nine people also died in a similar fire that broke out on the ground floor of a four-storey hotel in the temple town of Tarapith in Birbhum district at around 4:30 am.
Police and the fire department are yet to ascertain the exact causes of the two fires.
In Birbhum, the state government arrested the hotel owner and his son, while 15 local hotels found operating with fire safety violations were closed down.
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