A fire ripped through a hotel in the Indian city of Kolkata on Wednesday, killing nine people, authorities said.
Investigators suspect a faulty air conditioner may have caused the blaze.
How many people died in the Kolkata hotel fire?
Nine people died, including a child, in the fire that broke out early Wednesday at the budget Shika Inn hotel, West Bengal fire services director Anuj Sharma told AFP.
Thick smoke filled the building, and some victims were found in bathrooms. Six people were injured and taken to hospital, according to media reports.
What caused the Kolkata hotel fire?
Preliminary information suggests an air conditioner at the hotel may have exploded and triggered the blaze, Sharma said. A forensic team was deployed to examine the scene once firefighters brought the fire under control. Sixty guests were staying at the hotel at the time, police said in a statement.
Building fires are common in India due to a lack of firefighting equipment and routine disregard for safety regulations. West Bengal's fire minister, Kaushik Chaudhary, said police were investigating possible safety lapses at the hotel, which sits in a crowded, busy part of the city. The blaze comes just two days after a separate hotel fire in the state killed eight people.
Were foreign nationals among the victims?
Some of Wednesday's victims were likely Bangladeshi nationals who had travelled to Kolkata for medical treatment, said Santosh Pathak, a member of West Bengal's ruling party. "We are trying to confirm the nationality of the victims," he told reporters. The Indian Express newspaper, citing police sources, reported that three of the nine dead were from Bangladesh.
Atiyar Rehman, a guest from Satkhira in Bangladesh, told the newspaper that the hotel had no fire safety system in place. He said guests woke up struggling to breathe in the smoke and managed to escape. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "extremely pained" to learn of the loss of life and that the local administration was assisting those affected.
How did authorities respond to the fire?
Firefighters used ladders to scale the building, enter through windows and rescue people trapped inside. Dense smoke made it difficult for crews to climb the staircase and reach the upper floors, a police officer told the Press Trust of India news agency.
The response follows Monday's fire at a hotel in the holy town of Tarapith, where Hindu devotees had gathered for the sacred month of Shravan, which killed eight people.
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