Close shave in gas inferno

KOLKATA: Ammonia gas, allegedly leaking from a cold storage in a crowded Manicktala locality since Sunday night, triggered a fireball that could have turned into one of the biggest tragedies Kolkata has seen.
It was sheer luck that no one was killed in the blaze that raged for six hours just three feet from residential apartments.
The incident again points to how the city is sitting on a tinder box.
Though the Manicktala fire did not claim any life, flames leaping out from the three-storey building created panic in the locality. The fire was contained only around 6pm. A worker, trapped on the terrace of the building, perhaps felt dizzy due to smoke inhalation and fell from a ladder. He was badly injured but will survive.
Locals noticed smoke billowing out of the building on Murari Pukur Road around 11.30am. The building houses two cold storages and an ice manufacturing unit that has not been in operation for a couple of years. The fire is suspected to have started in Balasur Cold Storage, which was under renovation. Five to six labourers were working when the flames broke out, possibly due to a spark from the welder's torch, say firefighters.
As smoke engulfed the buildings, they rushed to the rooftop but had nowhere else to go. "I ran towards the main entrance along with Gopal Das to rescue those trapped but we could hardly see anything in the smoke. We tried sprinkling water. But it vapourised instantly. It grew unbearably hot and the pungent smell and thick smoke were suffocating us. Gopal Das fell sick," said Subrata Roy, a local.
His neighbours Suman Banik and Saibal Saha managed to prop a ladder against the building. The workers climbed down but one of them slipped and fell.
Locals said that though the fire brigade responded promptly, the narrow lanes frustrated them. The firefighting started only around noon. In fact, firefighters had come to the cold storage on Sunday night after residents complained of an ammonia gas leak from the unit. But the team left after the management claimed to have rectified the leakage.
Panicky residents took out cooking gas cylinders, kerosene stoves and other inflammable articles from their houses and ran to safer places. They grew more frantic as the fire grew in strength despite the best efforts of the firefighters. Scores of homes were at risk. Sensing trouble a large police contingent was deployed. It took 25 fire tenders six hours to put out the blaze.
"A labourer was injured as he fell from a ladder. There was no casualty," said joint CP (HQ) Jawed Shamim.
A forensic team will go to the spot on Tuesday. Fire services minister Pratim Chatterjee has ordered that an FIR be filed against the owner.