Hotel fire claims 15 lives in Indian city of Kolkata

A fierce fire ripped through a hotel in the Indian city of Kolkata killing at least 15 people, police said on Wednesday, with some clambering out of windows and onto the rooftop to escape.

Several people were rescued from rooms and the roof of the budget hotel, Kolkata police chief Manoj Verma told AFP after the fire broke out on Tuesday evening.

"The hotel turned into a gas chamber and it appears that many people suffocated to death," said Verma, adding an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the blaze.

The Rituraj Hotel, which had 88 guests when the fire broke out, is located in a congested business district of central Kolkata. About a dozen people were burned and were undergoing treatment.

A hotel worker told AFP that the fire broke out on the first floor of the six-storey building, where a bar was being built and where construction work had bricked up the windows.

Building fires are common in India due to a lack of firefighting equipment and a routine disregard for safety regulations.

Police officials and firefighters gather at the entrance of the Rituraj Hotel where a fire broke out in Kolkata. AFP

Eyewitness Nanda Mondal, who runs a construction company, said he saw plastic panels covering the building that appeared to have "fuelled the fire." "A man died after he tried to climb down a rainwater pipe," said Mondal, 64.

'NEGLIGENCE'

The Press Trust of India news agency, which filmed images of soaring flames from the Kolkata building, reported that "several people were seen trying to escape through the windows and narrow ledges of the building."

Kolkata's The Telegraph newspaper reported that at least one person died when he "jumped off the terrace trying to escape" the fire. Verma said the fire had been tackled and that "cooling operations are underway".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the families of those killed. "May the injured recover soon," his office said in a statement.

Kolkata, a bustling metropolis of more than 15 million people, is the capital of West Bengal state, which is governed by the opposition Trinamool Congress party.

Sajal Ghosh, a city councillor who belongs to Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party — which is in power nationally — said the fire seemed to have been a result of "negligence."

"It has also raised fresh questions about illegal constructions and safety standards in poorly regulated budget hotels in the city," he said.

Agence France-Presse