Kolkata hotel fire: B’desh Dy High Commissioner confirms Bangladeshi casualties, WB police yet to verify
Kolkata, August 19: At least, five Bangladeshi nationals were among the nine victims of the fire that broke out in a hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street in Kolkata’s Dharmatala area on Tuesday night, the Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Kolkata, Mohammad Khalid, confirmed, though Kolkata Police has not yet issued an official confirmation.
According to the report, out of the five dead Bangladeshi nationals, four were from Kushtia and one was from Savar area of Dhaka. The deceased have been identified as Debashish Dutt, Sharnashish Dutt, Afsana Shimmin, Mohammad Akram Ali, residents of Kushtia and Ahmed Babu, resident of Savar, Dhaka. Sharnashish was only three years old among them.
According to reports, Debashish Dutt had traveled to Bengaluru with his wife, Afsana Shimmin, and three-year-old son, Sharnashish. The three arrived in Kolkata on Tuesday after their child’s treatment. They then booked a room at the Shikha Inn Hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street in Dharmatala. That night, a massive fire broke out at the hotel, killing all three.
An official from the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission visited the local police station and morgue to identify the deceased. With the assistance of local police, all five were identified as Bangladeshi citizens. Deputy High Commissioner Mohammad Khalid also arrived at the scene and assessed the situation.
It is noteworthy that a massive fire broke out at the Shikha Inn Hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street in Dharmatala on Tuesday night. Nine people trapped inside the hotel died of suffocation due to the fire and smoke. Following the incident, questions are being raised about the hotel’s fire safety and other permits.
