Fire at residential building in Salt Lake, near Kolkata; man dies

The man was possibly trapped inside as the blaze devoured the room while his wife, who was in the adjacent dining hall when the fire broke out, ran away from the spot with her five-year-old daughter.

Kolkata: A 48-year-old man was killed when a fire broke out in a residential building in West Bengal's Salt Lake area, the satellite township on the eastern fringes of Kolkata, officials said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred late Monday night at DA Block in Salt Lake and two fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the blaze, they said.

This was the second fire incident in and around the city in a few days.

The burnt body of Debarshi Ganguly was found inside a room on the second floor of the building, a fire brigade official said.

Ganguly was possibly trapped inside as the blaze devoured the room while his wife, who was in the adjacent dining hall when the fire broke out, ran away from the spot with her five-year-old daughter. She alerted neighbours and the fire brigade.

The exact reason for the fire is yet to be ascertained, another official said.

The family and neighbours of the deceased alleged that the fire brigade was late in arriving at the spot, which might have caused the death of the man, a charge rejected by the Fire and Emergency Services personnel.