Two persons died in a fire that broke out at a garments godown-cum-wholesale store on the fourth floor of a five-storey building on Pathuriaghata Street in north Calcutta. Three people were injured in the fire, police said.
The deceased were priests and were found unconscious in front of the terrace door that was locked from inside and could not be opened in time, the police said.
The fire was reported on Monday, around 12.30am, and could be extinguished after a 10-hour operation with 10 tenders.
Three coolies who were sleeping on the first floor corridor of the building were dragged out of the smoke by the firefighters as they were operating inside the building floor by floor.
The news that the two priests were missing reached the firemen around two hours later, prompting the firefighters to scale a tree, jump onto the terrace, and break open the door, which was locked from inside.
“It was around 3am that we were told about two more missing persons. Firefighters landed on the terrace after scaling a tree and broke open the door. A portion of the wall had to be broken because of a collapsible gate inside that was also locked. The two men were lying unconscious in the thick smoke. It appeared that they came upstairs to escape through the terrace, but it had multiple locks,” said Tarun Dutta, divisional fire officer (north).
The men, identified as Sunil Kumar Sharma, 48, and Kishan Lal Upadhyay, 58, were taken to Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, where they were declared dead.
The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, fire officials said. “After the cooling of the building, a forensic team will visit the spot to find the exact cause of the fire,” the official said.
Officers of Jorabagan police station said they did not receive any complaint till Monday evening.
Officials of the fire services department said they were in the process of identifying the present owner of the building, after which a formal complaint would be lodged.
Police said they have informed the families of the deceased persons.
Ellora Saha, the councillor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s Ward 24, said the building was earlier called Bangur Dharamshala. “Gradually, it turned into a commercial establishment with multiple shops, offices and godowns,” she said.
“One of the two persons who lost their lives was the priest of the Banke Bihari Mandir. The other person was also a priest who came to offer his services from Varanasi,” Saha said.
Usually, no one slept in the building except coolies who slept in the corridors. “Since one of the priests had come from Varanasi, our temple priest had offered to let him stay in one of the empty rooms on the fourth floor. He was also staying with him,” said a trader who has an office on the first floor of the building.
Police sources said the building was earlier a temple compound owned by the temple trustee board. Later, it changed hands and was converted to a commercial establishment. The building located on 65A Pathuriaghata Street has a board of Shree Bihariji Arcade.
Fire department officials said the building had fire extinguishers, but they were inadequate to contain a huge fire. “Had the flames been contained at a preliminary level, the extinguishers could have been used. There was no other firefighting mechanism,” said a fire department official.
This newspaper reported on Monday that fire department officials found during their week-long campaigns that many commercial establishments do not have dedicated firefighting teams.
Last week, a fire broke out at Queens Mansion, a heritage building on Park Street. The fire could be contained with four fire engines.