Kolkata, March 25: Eight more bodies were recovered from the 150-year-old heritage building in upscale Park Street, raising the toll in the devastating fire that swept the building on Tuesday to 24.
Firefighters who began search operations last night from the top floor of the Stephen Court, housing restaurants, offices and residences, said the bodies were mainly recovered from the fifth and sixth floors of the seven-storeyed building.
Stating that the fire was completely under control although smoke was billowing out from one or two pockets, police said 20 of the injured were admitted to various hospitals.
So far six of the dead have been identified.
Missing reports had been filed for 29 others, they said.
The search operations were continuing this morning but it was unlikely that there were any bodies trapped in the building.
A team of forensic experts will visit the spot to ascertain the cause of the fire.
Preliminary investigations indicated that the fire may have broken out due to a short circuit in a lift between the fifth and sixth floors.
Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya had said the burnt portion of the building would be pulled down.
WB govt announces compensation for fire victims
The opposition in West Bengal assembly on Wednesday staged a walk out demanding resignation of the fire services minister accusing him of mishandling the Park Street blaze that claimed 24 lives, even as the government announced Rs two lakh as compensation to the next of kin of the victims.
Critical over the handling of the fire, opposition members demanded Fire Services Minister Pratim Chatterjee’s resignation or dismissal.
“The minister doesn’t have moral responsibility to continue. He should resign owning all responsibility or should be sacked from the ministry,” Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee of Trinamool Congress and CLP leader Manas Bhuniya demanded.
Bhuniya said the minister’s performance during earlier incidents of fire was miserable and probe reports of many cases were yet to be tabled.
All Trinamool Congress members walked out when Speaker H A Halim refused to accept their demand to defer the day’s business to discuss the unprecedented fire.
Announcing the compensation of Rs two lakh to the next of kin of each victim’s family in the assembly, the fire services minister said the toll has mounted to 24 while another 24 remained missing and 13 injured were admitted to different hospitals.
Stating that most of the bodies could not be identified, he said help of forensic experts has been sought to ascertain the cause of the fire.(
—Agencies