Kolkata Fire: Death Toll Rises To Nine At Eastern Railway Headquarters; Piyush Goyal Orders High Level Probe

Kolkata Fire: A massive fire that broke out on the 13th floor of a multi-storey building at Strand Road in Kolkata, West Bengal, on Monday evening. As many as 9 people lost their lives in the incident.

Image Courtesy - ANI

Kolkata Fire: The death toll in the massive fire that broke out on the 13th floor of a multi-storey building at Strand Road in Kolkata, West Bengal, on Monday evening, mounted to 9 on Tuesday morning. Those who lost their lives during blaze include 4 firefighters, 2 railways personnel & a police ASI who were fighting the fire at the Eastern Railways Strand road office. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, rushed to the spot in the city's central business district. She announced the state government will pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of those killed in the inferno and government job to a kin of the victim. 

PM Narendra Modi expressed condolences and approved an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakhs each from Prime Minister's National Relief Fund for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the tragic fire in Kolkata. Rs 50,000 would be given to those seriously injured. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Saddened by the loss of lives due to the fire tragedy in Kolkata. In this hour of sadness, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover at the earliest.</p>&mdash; Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1369106948105248768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>March 9, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Meanwhile, Union Minister Piyush Goyal also extended his condolences and assured a high-level probe into the matter. "All possible assistance has been provided by Railways to State Govt during this unfortunate fire accident. A high-level inquiry consisting of four Principal heads of Railway departments has been ordered to ascertain cause of fire," Union Railway Minister Piyush Goya said. 

Eastern Railway spokesman Kamal Deo Das had said the fire broke out at the New Koilaghat building, which is shared by the Eastern Railway and the South Eastern Railway. The building houses offices of the two zonal railways and also has a computerised ticket booking centre on its ground floor, PTI reported Das as saying.

Ten fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames, which began at around 6:10 p.m on Monday. The fire is now under control and the cooling process is on.

Sujit Bose, MIC Fire and Emergency Services informed about the unfortunate development. Out of nine deceased, four were firefighters, one assistant sub-inspector posted at the Hare Street police station and one RPF personnel, he informed. The identity of one of the victim is yet to be ascertained.