Cat chase triggers fire in slum

KOLKATA: Two women were badly burnt and more than 20 shanties were partially or fully damaged in a fire at Bagmari Road in east Kolkata on Wednesday morning.
The blaze at Maidakal area of Bagmari Road broke out at Arindam Das' house. Around 10.45 am, Das' mother, 55-year-old Manju was cooking on the first-floor kitchen at her 242B Bagmari Road house when a cat suddenly sneaked into the kitchen.
When Manju tried to shoo it away, it jumped aside. But Manju lost balance and knocked over the gas oven. There were some plastic items below which caught fire at once. As Manju tried to douse the flames, the gas cylinder's rubber pipe caught fire. The regulator knob was turned on, making gas leak out. The blaze spread within seconds and Manju got trapped.
Alerted by her screams, daughter-in-law Sabita rushed upstairs and got engulfed in the flames as well. Arindam, a small-time trader, and their children were not at home.
The flames then spread across the neighbourhood like wildfire. Most of the houses in the Maidakal slum are one-and-half-storied brick-and-wood shanties with roofs of tiles or asbestos. The building materials made it even more difficult to control the blaze.
Neighbours, however, could rescue both Manju and Sabita, though with serious burns, from the burning shanty. Later, the cylinder exploded and the fire went out of control, said police. Manju and Sabita were admitted at Kolkata Medical College with 55% and 20% burns respectively.
"When we saw the fire spreading towards our house, we hurriedly took out some cash and jewellery. Everything else was gutted," said Manju's neighbour Jhuma Singh.
Seven fire engines controlled the blaze after a one-and-a-half-hour fight, though more than 20 houses were damaged by then. "We are yet to verify the exact cause of fire," said a fire official.
In the afternoon, the Narkeldanga OC supplied 50 tarpaulin sheets for the affected families. Local politicians also visited them and assured them that their houses would be rebuilt. Some NGOs are providing food.