Kolkata fire: Doctors mull DNA test to identify some bodies
The bodies of some of the nine people who were killed in the fire at a multi-storeyed building in Kolkata's Strand Road area are so badly burnt that they could not be identified, following which doctors are mulling DNA tests to ascertain their identity, officials said on Tuesday. Here are more details.
Building houses offices of Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway
The fire broke out on Monday evening at around 6:10 pm on the 13th floor of the building that houses the offices of the Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway. The toll in the fire at the New Koilaghat Building rose to nine as two more bodies were found from an elevator in the early hours, the officials said.
Four firefighters, one assistant sub-inspector among those killed
Most of those killed are first responders -- four firefighters, one assistant sub-inspector posted at the Hare Street Police Station, and an RPF personnel. The four firefighters were identified as Girish Dey, Gourav Bej, Aniruddha Jana, and Biman Purkayat, a senior official of the State Government said. "The two bodies are yet to be identified. We have sent them for autopsy," he added
Post-mortem of seven bodies has been conducted
"The earlier seven bodies were also found from a lift," the officials said. "The post-mortem was completed on the seven bodies at the SSKM Hospital after special permission was granted to speed up the process," an official said.
Police registered a suo-motu case, Eastern Railway ordered an inquiry
"Meanwhile, police registered a suo-motu case in connection with the incident and the fire department constituted a committee to probe the mishap," the officials said. "The Eastern Railway has ordered a high-level inquiry, headed by Principal Chief Safety Officer Jaideep Gupta," they added. A team of the Kolkata Police's Forensic Department reached the spot in the morning to ascertain the cause of the fire.
