Fourteen people who were killed in the Indian hotel fire

At least 14 people, including two children, were killed after a massive fire broke out in a hotel in the East Indian state of West Bengal.

Two people were also seriously injured in the fire, which began on Tuesday evening in the Rituraj Hotel in Kolkata City.

The fire is now under control, but the authorities say that they still carry out rescue operations.

It is not yet clear how the fire started. The police have set up a special examination team to examine the incident.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote about X that he “tortured” “tormented” by the loss of life and that the families of the victims announced financial compensation.

Deadly fires are often reported in buildings in Indian cities, with poor planning and lax enforcement of safety regulations playing a role.

Last year at least 27 people died in a massive fire at a arcade in the western state of Gujarat.

Months later, 10 newborns were killed in the state of Uttar Pradesh after a fire broke out in the newborn unit of a hospital in the district of Jhansi.

According to reports, the guests of the hotel to the roof of the buildings have fled and used flashlights from their phone to signal help. Videos show that people climb in front of their room windows to escape the fire in front of their room windows.

Hydraulic ladders were used by firefighters to save the ladders stranded on the rocky tops, reported the Indian express newspaper. Most victims were guests who were unable to get out of their rooms, the police said to the newspaper.

Manoj Kumar Verma, chief of police at Kolkata, said that the special examination team examines the difficulties of the hotel guests during evacuation and whether fire outputs were in operation.

The state's social minister, Sashi Panja, described the fire as “unfortunate incident”.

“The fire brigade tried to save all people, but some of them unfortunately died because of suffocation,” she told reporters. “Two children were among those killed.”

Sukanta Majumdar, a Federal Minister and head of the opposition of Westbengalen, Bharatiya Janata Party, criticized the state government and demanded the “stricter surveillance” of fire protection measures to prevent such tragedies in the future.