Two die in Kolkata as old building crumbles
KOLKATA: Two people were crushed under debris when a portion of an old building on Indian Mirror Street in the crowded Bowbazar area in central Kolkata collapsed on Tuesday afternoon.
The bodies were recovered in the afternoon when rescue workers removed the debris.
One of the deceased was identified as Himadri Sekhar Pahari (48) a resident of the building and an accountant by profession. The second body was that of 18-year-old Hansha Shaw, a maid who used to come to the house for work every day.
Kolkata mayor Sovon Chatterjee rushed to the spot to survey the rescue work being undertaken.
He said, “Remaining part of the building will be demolished by the Kolkata municipal corporation. We have identified several buildings that pose danger to people and property. All of these will be demolished.”
“It was a residential building that was being used as a godown,” he added.
The two-storied structure suffered severe damage when a portion of the roof of the first floor caved in around 11.50 pm.
Several people were trapped on the ground floor. However, officials from state fire services and disaster management departments rescued them in about three hours. Pahari and Shaw however, could not be saved.
The building is close to a hundred years old, local people told the authorities. It was not properly maintained, fire brigade officials added. In fact, an adjacent building was even declared “dangerous and dilapidated” by the Kolkata municipal corporation a few years ago.