Hotel in central Kolkata's Jorasanko catches fire, one dead and seven others injured
Telegraph | 30 April 2025
A hotel in central Calcutta caught fire on Tuesday night, trapping several and prompting at least two people inside to panic and jump from the third floor.
One of those who jumped died from his injuries. The other was admitted to hospital.
Six others who were trapped in the smoke in the building were rescued by firefighters but fell ill and were also hospitalised.
Police said several who had rushed to the terrace were being rescued by the firefighters using a hydraulic ladder.
Many were suspected to be trapped inside the hotel in Jorasanko’s Mechua area till late on Tuesday.
The police identified the man who died as Manoj Paswan. People in the area said he worked at Rituraj Hotel. Paswan was originally from Jharkhand.
The man who suffered injuries from the fall was identified as Sanjay Das, from Cossipore, the police said.
Bablu Simachal, of Visakhapatnam, and Nivas Roy were two of those admitted to hospital after inhaling smoke.
The sight of people jumping from the building’s third-floor cornice to save themselves from the fire inside brought back memories of Stephen Court 15 years ago. Many had been trapped inside the building had jumped onto Park Street but died from injuries suffered in the fall.
Ten fire tenders were pressed into action to douse the fire at the Mechua hotel.
Fire officials and the police used loud hailers to request people not to panic and jump from the building.
“We are trying to expedite the rescue operation. It will not help to jump from such a height. We are requesting them not to panic,” said an official of the state fire and emergency services.
Rescue teams reached the upper floors of the hotel and asked the people trapped inside the rooms to switch on their mobile phone torches so they could be located in the thick smoke.
The hotel fire came less than 10 days after two men sleeping in a room died because of a fire in a garment godown in a commercial building on Pathuriaghata Street in north Calcutta.
A few days earlier, another fire was reported at a sweet shop in a heritage building — Queens Mansion — on Park Street. No one died there.
Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma and Calcutta Mayor Firhad Hakim were at the Jorasanko spot to oversee the rescue operation on Tuesday night.