Toll climbs to 15 in community hall fire incident

Santosh from Kolkata, who had suffered 85 per cent burns in the Nand Nagri blaze, died at Guru Teg Bahadur hospital here, doctors and police said.

With this, a total of 15 people have died in the incident while over 30 are undergoing treatment.

"Most of those who were brought dead to the hospital were in their seventies or eighties.

Their bodies were charred beyond recognition. Those who identified them were quiet aged themselves and addressed those dead as their guru and mummy," a police official at the hospital said.

A large number of eunuchs from different parts of the country, meanwhile, thronged the hospital, where many of over the over 30 injured were undergoing treatment, crying and consoling others from the community.

Residents from nearby places came in with food and water for the those who had gathered there.