Kolkata: Six people gutted to fire

Kolkata, Oct 22: At least six people, including four children, were burnt alive in a devastating fire that gutted around 200 shanties near Shalimar railway station under Shibpur police station in Howrah on Tuesday, Oct 21 night. SP Niraj Kumar on Wednesday, Oct 22 informed that eight people with serious burn injuries were rushed to the Howrah State General Hospital, adding it took three hours to control the blaze.

Altogether 12 fire brigade engines were pressed into action to control the blaze which occurred at Gate no 5 of the railway station.

District Magistrate Khalil Ahmed also rushed to spot to take stock of the situation, the SP said.

Fire officials suspected that the fire started from a cooking stove in one of the shanties and soon spread to the rest.

Some of the residents were tailors and stocked clothes in their rooms that helped the blaze spread within a short span of time, they said.

At least 1,000 people were rendered homeless as most of the shanties in the slum had been gutted, according to sources.

UNI