Indian hotel fire kills nine, including five Bangladeshi nationals

Kolkata, India: A fire ripped through a hotel in the Indian city of Kolkata on Wednesday, killing nine people, including five Bangladeshi nationals who were seeking medical care, officials said.

"Nine people were killed, including a child, in the fire that broke out early on Wednesday," Anuj Sharma, the fire services director of West Bengal state, told AFP.

"Thick smoke enveloped the hotel. Some victims were found in the bathrooms."

Building fires are common in India due to a lack of firefighting equipment and routine disregard for safety regulations.

The Kolkata blaze came only two days after eight people were killed in another hotel fire in West Bengal's holy town of Tarapith, where Hindu devotees had gathered for the sacred month of Shravan.

Civil defence personnel stand at the site of a hotel fire in Kolkata on August 19, 2026.  Photo by Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP

Sharma said preliminary information suggested an air conditioner at the budget Shika Inn hotel in Kolkata, the West Bengal capital, may have exploded and caused the blaze, Sharma said.

Bangladesh's deputy high commission in Kolkata said Indian authorities told them that five of those killed were Bangladeshi nationals.

"Of the nine, five are Bangladeshis, four of whom are from the same family," it said in a statement.

Santosh Pathak, a member of West Bengal's ruling party, said the Bangladeshi nationals had travelled to Kolkata for medical treatment.

Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis travel to India every year seeking affordable medical treatment.

Kolkata accounts for more than half of those medical travellers because of its proximity to the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, according to official figures.

Dense smoke

A forensic team was deployed to examine the scene after the Kolkata fire had been brought under control.

At least 60 guests were staying at the hotel, police said in a statement. Media reports said six people were injured and taken to hospital for treatment.

Atiyar Rehman, a guest from Satkhira in Bangladesh, told the Indian Express newspaper that the hotel had no fire safety system.

"We woke up struggling to breathe in the smoke. We somehow managed to escape," Rehman said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "extremely pained" to learn about the loss of life.

Relatives of a deceased victim of a hotel fire, wait at a government hospital in Kolkata on August 19, 2026. Photo by Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP

"May the injured recover at the earliest. The local administration is assisting those who are affected," he said in a social media post.

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on X a five-member team would conduct a "comprehensive inquiry" into the Kolkata fire.

The state's fire minister, Kaushik Chaudhary, said police were probing possible safety lapses at the hotel, located in a crowded and busy part of Kolkata.

Firefighters used ladders to scale the building, get inside through the windows and rescue people who were trapped.

"The dense smoke made it difficult for firefighters to climb the staircase and reach the upper floors," a police officer was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.