New Delhi: A fire swept through Kolkata’s Shikha Inn before dawn on Wednesday, killing nine people and trapping dozens inside the five-storey hotel. All nine victims came from Bangladesh and had travelled to Kolkata for medical treatment.
Firefighters and police rescued around 60 people from the building. Medical teams treated six others for injuries.
The fire broke out on the second floor of the hotel at 15 Mirza Ghalib Street in the New Market area at around 1:45 am. By the time emergency teams arrived, thick smoke had filled the building and trapped guests on the upper floors.
Survivors said the hotel had only one entrance and exit and no emergency staircase. They also said they did not see a functioning fire alarm or firefighting equipment inside the building.
Those accounts have put the hotel’s fire-safety arrangements under scrutiny. A fire that began on one floor quickly became a threat to people sleeping several floors above, as smoke blocked the only apparent route to safety.
How the Fire Unfolded
New Market police station received the first emergency call at around 2 am, according to Kolkata Police. Firefighters and police teams fought the blaze for nearly two and a half hours before bringing it under control at about 4:30 am.
Fire crews used four to five fire tenders and ladders to reach people trapped on the upper floors and rooftop.
Rescuers brought around 60 people out of the hotel alive. Firefighters also recovered several unconscious occupants from the building. Doctors at Kolkata Medical College later declared nine people dead.
Police and fire department officials identified the victims as six men, two women and one child, all from Bangladesh.
Investigators are still examining the cause of the fire and the circumstances that led to the deaths.
Victims Had Come to Kolkata for Medical Treatment
The deaths have also drawn attention to Kolkata’s long-established medical tourism link with Bangladesh. Patients from Dhaka, Chittagong and other parts of Bangladesh regularly travel to Kolkata for medical treatment. The city attracts them because treatment can cost less than in destinations such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangkok or Singapore, while the shorter distance and shared language make travel easier.
The New Market and Mirza Ghalib Street areas have consequently developed a large network of budget hotels that cater to patients and their families.
Shikha Inn stood in the middle of this corridor.
The deaths therefore raise a wider question: how effectively do authorities check the fire and building safety of hotels that accommodate large numbers of medical tourists and their families?
Kolkata Police has informed the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission, which will assist in identifying the victims and coordinating the repatriation of their bodies.
A Second Deadly Hotel Fire in 48 Hours
The Kolkata fire came only two days after another deadly hotel fire in Tarapith, in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
That blaze killed eight people, most of them pilgrims. Officials said a short circuit likely caused the fire, while dense smoke made it difficult for guests to escape.
The similarities between the two fires have increased scrutiny of fire safety in hotels across West Bengal.
Both incidents involved buildings where smoke became a major danger before people outside could see the scale of the fire. In both cases, investigators are examining possible electrical faults.
Two deadly hotel fires within 48 hours have shifted the focus from individual incidents to a broader question of fire-safety enforcement.
One Staircase, No Alarm: What Survivors Reported
The most serious concerns at Shikha Inn centre on the building’s escape routes and fire-safety systems. Survivors said the hotel had a single staircase and no separate emergency exit. They also reported that the hotel lacked a working fire alarm and firefighting equipment.
One survivor told reporters that he barely managed to escape with his friend because the building gave them little warning and few options once the smoke spread.
West Bengal Fire Services Minister Kaushik Chowdhury, who represented the department at the site, said the hotel management had not followed basic safety and construction norms.
Chowdhury said investigators would need a forensic examination to establish the exact cause of the fire. He identified a short circuit as a possible cause based on preliminary findings and said officials had found several irregularities in the hotel’s operations.
The investigation will also have to establish whether Shikha Inn had the required fire clearances and licences.
What Fire-Safety Rules Require
Fire-safety requirements for hotels and other lodging establishments can include emergency exits, fire extinguishers, smoke detection systems and fire clearances, depending on the building’s size, occupancy and applicable local rules.
The survivors’ accounts suggest that Shikha Inn may have lacked several basic safeguards. Authorities have not yet publicly established which specific approvals or safety systems the hotel held.
That distinction matters. The investigation must determine what the law required the hotel to provide, what the hotel actually had, and whether officials had inspected or cleared the premises.
Police have detained hotel staff for questioning as investigators examine possible violations and responsibility for the deaths.
Kolkata Has Seen Similar Fires Before
The Shikha Inn fire is not the first deadly blaze to expose safety problems in Kolkata’s budget hotel sector.
In April 2025, a fire at the Rituraj Hotel in Burrabazar’s Mechhua area killed 15 people. The six-storey budget hotel had 88 guests across 42 rooms when the fire broke out.
Guests escaped through windows and onto the rooftop as smoke filled the building.
Police arrested hotel owner Akash Chawla and the manager on culpable homicide charges. Investigators later arrested an interior decorator over alleged unauthorised renovation work that involved flammable materials and may have contributed to the spread of the fire.
The earlier incident and Wednesday’s blaze point to recurring risks in Kolkata’s older and densely built commercial areas.
Fire-safety investigators have repeatedly focused on problems such as single-staircase buildings, unauthorised alterations, residential properties that owners convert into commercial accommodation and enclosed stairwells that allow smoke to spread rapidly.
What Happens Next
A forensic team will examine Shikha Inn to determine where and how the fire started. West Bengal’s Fire Services Director General also visited the site on Wednesday as officials began their investigation.
The authorities will need to establish more than the cause of the fire. They will also need to determine whether the hotel had the required licences and fire clearances, whether its safety systems met applicable rules, and whether previous inspections identified any violations.
The deaths of nine Bangladeshi medical tourists have added an international dimension to those questions.
For Kolkata, the immediate challenge is not only to investigate the Shikha Inn tragedy but also to examine whether other hotels in the New Market–Mirza Ghalib Street area face similar risks.
If hotels accommodate large numbers of guests without adequate escape routes or fire-safety systems, the next emergency could produce another avoidable tragedy.
