Two people have died in a fire that broke out at a hotel in south Kolkata early on Thursday morning. The fire broke out at the Golden Parkk Hotel at Ho Chi Minh Sarani, close to the US Consulate and British High Commission.
The two hotel guests suffered serious injuries and were rushed to a hospital but died later.
Chamar Kishan, a 32-year-old resident of Sundargarh in Odisha, and 53-year-old Anup Agarwal, a resident of Surat in Gujarat, were declared brought dead when taken to the hospital. Both of them were employees of Tata Steel. Police said 30 people including the hotel's staff have been rescued. Six of the injured were shifted to the SSKM Hospital. While the cause of the fire is unclear, nine fire tenders were rushed to the site and put out the blaze in three hours.
According to police, the fire started in the kitchen of the hotel at around 3 am and spread to other areas including the ground floor.
Firefighters and disaster management officials had to break open the glass window panes of the hotel for the thick smoke to pass out, an officer said
A few of them were rescued using ladders while others were guided outside the hotel by rescue workers, he said. "Apart from hotel guests, there were workers who were stuck inside," the officer said.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed her concern over the incident and enquired about the present situation. Sovan Chatterjee, Mayor and the state fire minister, visited the spot.
Sovan Chatterjee, Mayor and the state fire minister, said: "The fire, as well as the smoke, spread from the first floor to the top floor as the AC duct was not properly sealed."
The police sealed the hotel on Thursday afternoon.
The owner of Hotel Golden Parkk, Bhupinder Gujral, and manager Gautam Majumdar were arrested. They were held on the basis of the complaint lodged by an officer of the state fire department Somnath Pramanik.