Salt Lake business complex evacuated after office-hr blaze
Times of India | 2 April 2025
123 Kolkata: More than 300 employees working at a commercial complex in Salt Lake were evacuated on the first working day of the week after a fire broke out in the building's basement on Tuesday morning. Firemen on three fire tenders worked alongside the building guards to extinguish the flames within an hour and prevented any major injury to the employees.
Around 11.30 am, black fumes were seen emanating from the nine-storey building on KC Block on Salt Lake Broadway, next to Manipal Hospitals, and the building's electricity was quickly cut off. Security guards ran up the stairs to pass on the message to the guards posted on the upper floors, asking the employees to rush out of the building even before the fire alarm or water sprinklers could be activated.
"I was on a work call when there was a commotion on our floor after a security guard ran upstairs and informed us that our office building was on fire. All of us were asked to rush down using the stairs. I couldn't even log out of my computer and left the office just carrying my handbag," said Swagata Das, who works at a private firm situated on the sixth floor of the building.
Cops said that as per the initial assessment of firemen an electrical short circuit could have led to the fire.