Major fire breaks out in an office building in Kolkata, no casualties reported so far
According to reports, the fire was first noticed at around 12:40 pm inside the office of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), located on the third floor of Aspirations building.
As many as 10 fire tenders along with hydraulic ladders rushed to the spot and firemen fought for hours to douse the massive blaze. Local police and Disaster Management Group (DMG) personnel also rushed to the scene .
As several offices, residential buildings and a school are located at the area, the incident triggered panic among the local people.
After evacuating adjacent buildings and the school, firefighting and rescue operations were started.
Kolkata Mayor and state fire minister Sovan Chatterjee visited the scene later.
"The fire has been brought under control and no casualty has been reported so far," Sovan Chatterjee told IBNS.
"22 people, who had been trapped inside the building due to the fire, were rescued. Eight of them were admitted to SSKM hospital as they fell sick from inhaling heavy smoke inside," Sovan Chatterjee said.
A fire and emergency services official said that hydraulic ladders could not reach the location due to the narrow space.
"With our manual ladders, we completed the rescue operation here," the official said.
After preliminary inquiry, fire officials said that the blaze might have started due to a short circuit.
Fire department, however, has started a probe into the reason of the fire.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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