At least nine Bangladeshis, including a child, were killed after a fire swept through a hotel building in central Kolkata early Wednesday, trapping sleeping guests as thick smoke filled its narrow corridors and staircases.

All nine victims — six men, two women and a child — were Bangladeshi nationals who had travelled to Kolkata for medical treatment, UNB reported, citing the Indian fire department and news agency ANI.

The fire broke out at around 2:00 am in a multistorey building on Free School Street, also known as Mirza Ghalib Street, near New Market, one of Kolkata's busiest commercial districts.

Firefighters were alerted at 2:07 am, according to NDTV. Four fire tenders were dispatched to the scene, while a disaster management team joined the operation to rescue people trapped inside.

Initial reports indicated that the fire began on the third floor and may have been caused by an air-conditioner explosion. Authorities, however, had yet to establish the exact cause.

The flames were eventually brought under control, but dense smoke appears to have posed the greater danger to those inside.

“The dense smoke made it difficult for firefighters to climb the staircase and reach the upper floors. While nine people have died, more deaths are feared,” a police officer told PTI.

“Our priority is to rescue those trapped and determine the reasons for the fire. The flames have been doused, and the cooling process is underway,” the officer added.

Accounts from survivors and local residents, reported by Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika, have meanwhile raised questions over fire safety and the way hotels were operating inside the building.

The multistorey property housed several hotels and guest houses, with virtually every floor accommodating a separate establishment. Rooms were cramped and closely packed together, according to the newspaper.

The fire itself was initially not particularly intense, Anandabazar reported, but smoke rapidly spread through the building, engulfing corridors and rooms and leaving guests unable to identify a way out.

Many of the guests were asleep when the fire started.

Survivors alleged that the building had only one narrow route for entering and leaving and that there was no emergency exit. Some guests sought refuge in bathrooms and attempted to escape by breaking windows.

“Had the firefighters not arrived, we might not have survived either,” one guest told Anandabazar.

Some residents also alleged that hotel staff were nowhere to be found after the fire broke out and that adequate firefighting arrangements were absent.

The building's hotels were frequently used by visitors from outside West Bengal and from neighbouring countries, particularly Bangladeshis travelling to Kolkata for medical treatment, according to local sources cited by Anandabazar.

The tragedy has consequently raised questions about whether the hotels possessed the required fire-safety clearances and how multiple establishments were permitted to operate from a building with allegedly narrow passages and no emergency exit.

Two guests who had arrived from Rampurhat on Tuesday night described how quickly conditions deteriorated.

Ijaz Ahmed, who was staying with a friend at another guest house on the fourth floor, said they had gone to sleep at around 12:30 am after dinner.

They woke at approximately 2:15 am after hearing two women screaming. When they opened their door, smoke immediately poured into their room.

“The corridor outside our room was extremely narrow. It was completely filled with smoke,” they told Anandabazar.

Firefighters eventually rescued guests from the building, including a family living on its top floor.

A woman from that family alleged that hotel operators had repeatedly been asked to install adequate firefighting equipment but had failed to comply. She also claimed complaints made to the authorities had produced no action.

BJP leader Santosh Pathak separately alleged that the hotels had been developed in violation of building regulations.

Pathak claimed that structural pillars had been cut to create additional space and increase the number of hotel rooms, potentially weakening the building.

“These were originally residential buildings. They were illegally converted for commercial use,” Anandabazar quoted him as saying.

Authorities had not immediately confirmed those allegations.

The Kolkata blaze came only two days after another deadly hotel fire in West Bengal.

At least eight people were killed when a fire broke out at Hotel Bideshini near the Tarapith temple in Birbhum district early on August 17, according to NDTV.

That fire began on the ground floor of the five-storey hotel at around 4:30 am while most guests were sleeping.

Five members of a family from Meghalaya, including two children, were among those killed. The injured were taken to Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital.

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