Top 2 floors of Stephen Court were illegal, say police, as blame game begins in the aftermath of yesterday's tragedy that claimed 24 lives so far
Top 2 floors of Stephen Court were illegal, say police, as blame game begins in the aftermath of yesterday's tragedy
The top two floors of Stephen Court, gutted in a major fire, were constructed illegally, city police commissioner Goutam Mohan Chakraborty said today.u00a0
Eight more bodies were recovered from the 150-year-old heritage building in upscale Park Street, raising the toll in the devastating fire that swept the building yesterday to 24, fire brigade sources said.u00a0u00a0
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Stephen Court fire.u00a0AFP PHOTOu00a0
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"The fifth and sixth floors of the building were constructed illegally. These were later regularised," he told reporters, adding that the promoter who built the two floors was absconding after yesterday's blaze.u00a0
The police and fire brigade personnel had faced difficulties in conducting rescue operations inside Stephen Court as they were not provided the building plan, Chakraborty said. "We had asked the building association president for a plan of the building and a list of tenants, but these were not provided to us. If we had the list, we could have saved some more people," he said.
Chakraborty said a number of people tried to escape through the roof of the building, but could not do so as the collapsible gate to the roof was locked.
Meanwhile, fire brigade sources said the fire could have been possibly caused by a leaking power cable of the building's elevator.
Death toll rises
The death toll soared to 24 after 14 other charred bodies were discovered early Wednesday from the sixth floor of the highrise, an officer in the state police control room said. Four bodies were found Tuesday night. 12 bodies have been identified so far. 20 people who were in the residential-cum-commercial building at the time of the fire, were still missing.
With the fire under control in all four blocks of the heritage building, police and fire brigade personnel were conducting intense searches in rooms on the upper floors, stair cases and terraces.
"Four completely charred bodies were recovered from the sixth floor of the building a little before midnight. 14 other bodies were found early Wednesday," police said. The death of six people, most of whom had jumped from the upper floors in a desperate bid to save themselves from the fire, had been reported Tuesday evening.
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