Four members of a Kushtia family, including a journalist, were among nine people killed in a fire at a residential hotel in Kolkata, India, on Tuesday night.
The victims have been identified as Kushtia journalist Debashish Dutta, his wife Afsana Shimmin, 25, their two-year-old child Swarnashish Dutta, and Debashish’s father-in-law Md Akram Ali, 64.
Debashish lived with his family in Aruapara area of Kushtia Sadar upazila, while Akram was the son of Yasin Ali of Thanapara area in the same upazila.
Debashish was the Kushtia correspondent of Dainik Ajker Patrika and Channel Nine. He also served as executive editor of local daily Ajker Alo.
Gazi Mahbub Rahman, editor of Ajker Alo, confirmed the deaths and said the family had travelled to India on August 3 for medical treatment.
Debashish’s wife was ill, while their child had speech problems, he said.
Akram had been staying in Kolkata, while Debashish, his wife and child were in Bengaluru. They returned to Kolkata on Tuesday to meet Akram.
Following news of the incident, Debashish’s brother-in-law left for Kolkata.
Kushtia journalist SA Badal also confirmed that Debashish and his family members died in the fire at the hotel.
Meanwhile, Mahishur, a member of a local public welfare association in Kolkata, said eight of the nine people killed in the fire were Bangladeshi citizens and the remaining victim was an Indian national.
He said two-year-old Ahmed Babu from Savar was also among those killed.
The identity of another victim, 19-year-old Sandeep Paswan from Giridih district of Jharkhand, has also been confirmed.
According to Indian news agency PTI, citing police, the fire broke out at around 1:45am at a residential hotel in a building at 15H Mirza Ghalib Street near Kolkata’s New Market area.
Five fire service units, police and disaster management personnel joined the rescue operation.
Firefighters rescued several people from the building, while the injured were taken to a nearby hospital.
In a statement, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said local police had confirmed the identities of five Bangladeshi victims.
The Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata has contacted the families of the deceased, it said.
Four of the deceased were members of the same family, while the identities of the other victims have yet to be confirmed by local authorities.
Meanwhile, six injured Bangladeshis were released after receiving primary treatment.
