Sunday, March 28, 2010

Toll in Stephen Court fire touches 30


The toll in the devastating fire in Stephen Court reached to 30 with the recovery of six more bodies from inside the ravaged building till late last night.

Joint Commissioner of Police (HQ) Jawed Shamim today said all the bodies were charred beyond recognition.

''After the rescuers found three bodies from inside the debris till evening, three more were recovered in the night. The bodies are so badly burnt that they will have to be put under DNA test for identification,'' he said.

Meanwhile, work was on to clear the huge mounds of rubble of the building to look for more bodies as several people still remained missing.

The work was being carried out by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in association with the Fire Brigade and the police.

The century-old heritage building, which caught fire on March 23 destroyed houses, numerous offices, including call centres and residential apartments.

While six people leapt to their death from the upper tiers of the building in a frantic bid to escape the blaze, rescuers stumbled on 18 burnt bodies the next day as they gained access inside the building.

Most of those killed were young professionals, some of them new recruits in several offices housed in the building.

With several victims being charred beyond recognition, only 20 bodies could be identified so far. Confusion still prevailed over identification of at least four bodies being claimed by six families while no claims had so far been made for six bodies.

According to police, DNA tests of these mangled human remains are being done to determine their identity.

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