Tarapith Hotel Fire Tragedy: 8 Killed, Several Injured; Owner Arrested

Kolkata: Eight people mainly pilgrims got killed and several injured in a devastating fire that broke in a hotel in Tarapith in Birbhum during the wee hours of Monday.

The police had arrested the owner of the hotel and is probing the cause of the fire and also probing whether the hotel authorities had taken adequate safety measures to prevent the fire.

The fire was spotted around 5 am on the ground floor of the four-storey hotel building when the guests were mostly sleeping.

Twenty-two fire tenders were pressed into service which doused the fire after almost three hours.

The arrested owner, Kalyan Paul said that there were no loopholes in the hotel ‘Bideshini’ and also that there was an emergency exit at the backside of the building.

“Our staff had immediately switched off the electricity connection in the hotel as the fire was spotted. Due to darkness and smoke the boarders could not find the back gate and the reception,” said the owner.

Nilesh Srikant, additional superintendent of police of Birbhum, said that the injured have been admitted to the Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital.

A special team has been formed which will investigate the safety measures of the hotels as thousands of pilgrims are expected to gather at Tarapith soon due to ‘Kaushiki Amavasya’. Thousands of people yesterday gather at the temple town Tarapith to offer prayers to the Goddess on the the last Monday of the Bengali ‘Savan’ month.