Fire at the dead of the night, only one exit in the building, people trapped inside are asphyxiated and wait for the fire to engulf them... The picture sounds suspiciously similar to the AMRI hospital fire 15 months ago that claimed 94 lives.
In fact, the fire that set the Surya Sen Market ablaze in the early hours of Wednesday seems like a brutal reminder of how things have remained much the same as safety continues to be neglected at the risk of putting human lives in danger.
The difference between the two fire accidents has been the victims: While people who were scorched in the AMRI carnage were helpless patients, those who lost their lives in Wednesday’s market blaze were poor labourers from neighbouring states and other districts of West Bengal who came to the city in search of a better life.
Unfortunately, with two major fire mishaps in three years (Stephen Court fire, and AMRI hospital fire) that collectively claimed 137 lives, the blaze-prone city is yet to learn from its mistakes.
Eye witnesses confirm that the fire started about 3 am and leapt to the first floor where most of the victims were sleeping.
“They are used to sleeping inside the shops and godowns. With the fire spreading, they were trapped inside and were choked to death,” the local said.
“There is a back entrance which always remained shut. We tried opening it. Had it been open it would have saved a lot of lives,” the local mentioned.
“It is true that some people were charred to death but some also died due to suffocation,” said a doctor at N R S Medical College and Hospital.
Accessibility
The narrow labyrinth of roads surrounding the congested market place was not conducive for the fire fighters to enter during the critical period. As they struggled, the fire gutted everything in the building.
In the shadows of the charred building, people still stand and count the losses to lives and material.
It is not yet clear if the city will ever learn from such tragedies.