At least seven people died after a major fire broke out on the 12th and 13th floors of a multi-storeyed building in the Kolkata’s Strand Road area on Monday evening. The deceased include four firefighters, an RPF personnel and an assistant sub-inspector of police (ASI) of Hare Street police station. All the seven died due to asphyxiation.

As the fire raged through the building, 18 fire tenders with hydraulic ladders and skylifts were pressed into service to douse the blaze. The operation to extinguish the massive fire is still going on.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has reached the spot, where Police Commissioner of Kolkata Soumen Mitra, Fire Services Minister Sujit Basu and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim were already present. The West Bengal government has announced Rs 10 lakh compensation to the next of kin of deceased.

Five of the seven, who died, had gotten trapped in a lift. “We will conduct an inquiry into why the firefighters and their police officer used the lift because it is completely against drill norms,” said Sujit Basu.

The five victims reportedly tried to reach the 13th floor by the elevator. Extreme heat on the floor singed them and forced them back inside the lift. They subsequently choked inside the lift

The fire may lead to large scale damage to documents in the Eastern Railway office. Power at the ER server room was turned off and online bookings of train tickets have been halted currently.

Traffic on the Strand Road in central Kolkata was stopped to expedite the process of dousing the fire. Disaster management personnel were also working at the site, officials said.

(With inputs from PTI)