Howrah apartment fire: 65-year-old woman killed, 12 rescued as blaze breaks out

A 65-year-old woman was killed after a fire broke out in an apartment in Andul, West Bengal’s Howrah district, on Wednesday afternoon. At least 12 other residents were rescued from the five-storey building, police said.

The fire broke out on the second floor of the building at around 1 pm. The woman, identified as Gopa Mukherjee, was alone in her apartment when the blaze started.

“The fire started around 1 pm on the second floor of the five-storey building. It probably started from the kitchen. A 65-year-old woman, who was alone in the house, was killed. Her charred body was recovered. The victim was identified as Gopa Mukherjee,” an officer said.

Local youths rushed to the spot after noticing the fire and alerted the Domjur police station and fire brigade.

Five fire tenders deployed

Five fire tenders were sent to the building and firefighters brought the blaze under control in about an hour.

“Five fire tenders were pressed into action. The fire was doused in around an hour. When the fire brigade officials went inside, they found the charred remains,” a fire brigade official said.

Residents on other floors were evacuated with the help of locals, police and fire brigade personnel. At least 12 people were rescued from the building.

One resident described how the fire was discovered and how people escaped after being alerted.

“I was in the house. The maid alerted me after getting a smell of something burning. There was a feeling of suffocation and I asked her to check the kitchen. When she found nothing, she went out of the apartment to check. Immediately she came running and said that there was a fire on the second floor. We rushed out of the building,” he said.

Two hotel fires killed 18 last week

The incident comes days after two separate hotel fires in West Bengal claimed nine lives each.

Last week, at least nine people were killed and 60 were rescued after a fire broke out at a hotel in central Kolkata in the early hours.

Another fire at a hotel in Tarapith, a temple town in Birbhum district, also killed nine people, including two children. Seven of those killed were Bangladeshis.