By IANS
Kolkata : The devastating fire in Kolkata’s Burrabazar area continued to rage in a high rise building for the third day Monday even as army and civilian firemen continued their efforts to put out the inferno.
The blaze, which destroyed at least eight buildings, broke out at 1.15 a.m. Saturday in the Tirpalpatti and Nandaram complex of Burrabazar – eastern India’s largest wholesale market.
Flames continued to leap out of the 10th, 11th and 12th floors of the 14-storey Nandaram market building Monday even as firemen managed to put out the fire on the ninth floor, a fire official said.
The firemen used carbon dioxide gas to fight the blaze after water and foam failed.
“We hope we will be able to control the blaze in another five hours. Eight gas cylinders in the top floor blasted, spreading the fire. There was a huge quantity of inflammables like diesel products,” Gopal Bhattacharya, principal fire officer of the West Bengal Fire Service, told IANS Monday over telephone from the ninth floor of the building.
However, D. Biswas, director of the West Bengal Fire Service, said: “We hope we will be able to control the fire by the end of the day.”
On Sunday, a deafening explosion, possibly in a generator room, cracked the building in the crammed trading hub, triggering fears of the structure’s collapse.
Around 7.30 p.m. explosions were heard as flames leapt out and the fire spread further. Later, more cylinder blasts were heard. The building had already titled and it was feared that the melting of steel bars due to the tremendous heat generated by the inferno could bring down the structure any moment.
However, fire officials said the building would not collapse.
Officials said property worth billions of rupees has been destroyed despite the efforts of 42 fire tenders aided by the army, the air force and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
A trader of Burrabazar, Tej Narayan Baidya, died Sunday of a heart attack having lost his belongings.
Amid fears of the building crashing, residents of nearby houses were evacuated.
On Sunday, the fire brigade personnel were totally helpless as the fire went out of control, engulfing the higher floors of the Nandaram market building. They do not have enough equipment to reach the top floors of high-rise buildings to put out the blaze.
A part of the building has already collapsed. The narrow crammed lanes of Burrabazar have added to the difficulty.
Traders of Burrabazar said about 2,500 shops, dealing in plastics, polythene and other inflammable materials, were gutted and losses could cross Rs.2 billion.
B.D. Mimani, secretary of the local trade organisation, said “99 percent” of the traders had not insured their shops and would have to rebuild their lives from scratch.
While the buildings burned, the traders and residents wailed as they lost everything in the fire.
It was not clear how the fire began but an electrical short circuit or sabotage is reported to be a possible cause.
Burrabazar is the wholesale market area of Kolkata with clusters of unplanned and unauthorised constructions. The fire spread fast, fanned by a breeze and helped along by inflammables material like plastics, polythene and garments.