Fire in Kolkata slum, one killed

One person was burnt to death when a fire broke out at a slum here early on Sunday, a fire brigade official said.

"A fire broke out at a slum in Baranagar area (in north Kolkata) at about 2.25 p.m. and it took about one hour to control the blaze. As many as three fire tenders were pressed into service to put out the fire," the official said.

The fire department personnel had a hard time to operate the fire fighting exercise as the space was extremely narrow. However, they "successfully arrested" the fire so that it does not spread to the neighbouring establishments, the official added.

"A dead body of a male aged around 50 was found from one of the houses during the search operations at the spot. The deceased has not yet been identified," he said.

Although the exact cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, it was suspected that it began after a cooking gas cylinder blast inside a kitchen of one of the houses.

"Local people said gas cylinders continued to explode during the fire and some sort of panic gripped the place. But now the situation is completely under control," the official added.

--IANS

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