Survivors of hotel fire recount horror, say ‘never thought we’d live this’

Kolkata: The devastating fire at Rituraj Hotel in Mechhua Bazar area has left survivors deeply shaken, with panic and trauma lingering even 24 hours after the incident. Many guests who were either trapped inside their rooms or stranded on the rooftop awaiting rescue remain in a state of shock.

Neha Agarwal, a visitor from Odisha, shared her harrowing experience. She and her family had come to Kolkata for a holiday and were preparing to check out when the fire broke out. While narrating the incident of Tuesday night, Neha alleged that at the time of the incident no one from the hotel helped them.

“My husband, one of my nephews, and I were in the room, while my three other nephews were downstairs.

One of them alerted us that a fire had broken out and advised us to use the stairs. But the moment we opened the door, we were met with thick black smoke,” recalled Neha. “With no way out, we shut the door and broke open a window to get some fresh air.

Eventually, we managed to climb out through the window, and firefighters rescued us. Until Tuesday, we had only seen such incidents on television — never imagined we’d experience it ourselves,” a visibly shaken Neha stated. Another survivor, Sanjay Das, a hotel employee who was on the fourth floor at the time of the fire, recounted his terrifying ordeal. “I was working on the fourth floor when the fire started. I tried to escape using the stairs, but the dense smoke made it impossible to breathe, so I rushed to the rooftop,” he said. “While climbing, I felt severe breathlessness. From the roof, I attempted to descend using a water pipe. I managed to reach the second floor, but then lost my balance and fell to the ground,” he added.

Shyam Pandey, a Mumbai resident, was asleep in room number 301 when the inferno broke out. He was rescued by firefighters several hours later.