Kolkata:
Amidst the devastation of Kolkata Hotel fire, in which 14 people lost their lives, a short moment of relief on Wednesday when fire brigade personnel rescued a cat which was trapped inside the building for more than 16 hours.
The fulfilled cats were trapped in a room on the third floor of the Rituraj Hotel in Burbaazar, which were unable to avoid thick smoke from a fire on the floor at around 7:30 pm on Tuesday or to be free through a closed window nest.
During overnight rescue and fire fighting operation, no one initially paid attention to the animal.
It was only at 4 pm on Wednesday that the firefighters listened to their unconscious crying and saw the cat cling to the third floor window, trying to find a way.
Vigilant with their weak calls, fire services personnel finally tried to climb the third floor window and wrapped it in a towel and brought it down safely.
“He was given water and felt fine,” said a fire fighter.
The fire claimed 14 people and 13 injured.
According to officials, 88 guests were living in 42 rooms in the hotel when the fire broke out.
Most of the victims got stuck inside and died due to suffocation, while some allegedly jumped from the upper floors in nervousness.
A senior official of the fire and emergency service department said, “Most of the people who died were trapped inside and could not escape thick smoke.”
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)
