Difference between revisions of "2006 Kolkata leather factory fire" - New World Encyclopedia
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==Event and emergency response== | ==Event and emergency response== | ||
[[Image:Kolkata Factory Interior Post-Fire.jpg|right|width=200px|thumb|The interior of the factory after the fire had been extinguished.]] | [[Image:Kolkata Factory Interior Post-Fire.jpg|right|width=200px|thumb|The interior of the factory after the fire had been extinguished.]] | ||
| − | The fire broke out in the factory at around 2:30 [[Indian Standard Time|IST]],<ref name="cnnibn"/> as workers slept nearby. Once they became aware of the blaze, the desperate workers found the factory's locked doors. Five [[Fire apparatus|fire tenders]] arrived on the scene of the fire.<ref name="cnnibn"/> By the time they arrived, local residents had broken down two locked gates and rescued the workers.<ref name="calcuttatelegraph"/> Rescue efforts had been delayed when an individual carrying keys to open the door nervously dropped them while attempting to open the gate<ref name="calcuttatelegraph"/> Ten people died by the time rescuers reached the factory's interior.<ref name="calcuttatelegraph2">{{cite news |title=The men who died young |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061124/asp/calcutta/story_7043750.asp |work=Calcutta Telegraph |date=2006-11-24 |accessdate=2006-12-19 }}</ref>, with a further eighteen seriously injured. Emergency medical teams transported the injured | + | The fire broke out in the factory at around 2:30 [[Indian Standard Time|IST]],<ref name="cnnibn"/> as workers slept nearby. Once they became aware of the blaze, the desperate workers found the factory's locked doors. Five [[Fire apparatus|fire tenders]] arrived on the scene of the fire.<ref name="cnnibn"/> By the time they arrived, local residents had broken down two locked gates and rescued the workers.<ref name="calcuttatelegraph"/> Rescue efforts had been delayed when an individual carrying keys to open the door nervously dropped them while attempting to open the gate<ref name="calcuttatelegraph"/> Ten people died by the time rescuers reached the factory's interior.<ref name="calcuttatelegraph2">{{cite news |title=The men who died young |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061124/asp/calcutta/story_7043750.asp |work=Calcutta Telegraph |date=2006-11-24 |accessdate=2006-12-19 }}</ref>, with a further eighteen seriously injured. Emergency medical teams transported the injured workers, many suffering from burns over 70 percent of their bodies, to the [[Calcutta National Medical College|National Medical College and Hospital]]. Faced with a shortage of beds, the hospital placed the victims on the floor.<ref name="indiaenews"/> Lacking an intensive burn care unit, the doctors had only ointments and saline drips available at the hospital to treat them. Arrangements made, the patients eventually moved to other hospitals.<ref name="indiadaily"/> Local MLA [[Javed Khan]] later incorrectly reported the death toll at least twelve.<ref name="cnnibn"/><ref name="tribune"/> The [[Rapid Action Force]] also deployed to maintain calm.<ref name="cnnibn"/><ref name="indiaenews"/> |
===Criticisms of the emergency response=== | ===Criticisms of the emergency response=== | ||
Revision as of 02:08, 1 May 2008
The 2006 Kolkata leather factory fire refers to a deadly industrial fire that occurred in West Bengal, India, on November 22, 2006. A lightning rod for criticism of poor safety standards among the country's "sweat shops," the fire broke out in a leather bag factory located in the Tannix International, Topsia, in the South 24 Paragana district of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).
The industrial fire claimed the lives of at least ten people unable to escape because the factory's doors had been illegally locked. Authorities, in response to local residents' angry criticism, admitted that the substandard emergency response to the accident. The fire underwent two separate investigations. One inquiry focused on the cause of the fire, while the other sought to determine criminal responsibility for the disaster as well as the operation of the illegal factory.[1][2] On May 22, 2007, six months after the lethal fire, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya announced in a turn around that the building had been legal. No criminal wrong doing had been charged as well. [3]
Background
Initial investigations alleged that the leather bag factory site had been illegally operated factory.[4] The factory had been located on the third floor of a four-story building[5][6]that also hosted residential units.[7] Investigators initially determined that the first and second floors of the structure housed additional illegal factories.[8] Tenex Exports owned and operated the factory destroyed in the fire.[8] Apparently, all of the people killed or injured in the fire slept in the factory at night, a normal situation in India.[6] As noted earlier, the building had been located in the Tannix International, Topsia, in the South 24 Paragana district of Kolkata.[5][9] The building had just one emergency exit. Forty workers had been housed in the structure at the time of the fire.[9] The owner locked the factory at night to prevent workers from running away with leather goods.[10]
Event and emergency response
The fire broke out in the factory at around 2:30 IST,[5] as workers slept nearby. Once they became aware of the blaze, the desperate workers found the factory's locked doors. Five fire tenders arrived on the scene of the fire.[5] By the time they arrived, local residents had broken down two locked gates and rescued the workers.[8] Rescue efforts had been delayed when an individual carrying keys to open the door nervously dropped them while attempting to open the gate[8] Ten people died by the time rescuers reached the factory's interior.[11], with a further eighteen seriously injured. Emergency medical teams transported the injured workers, many suffering from burns over 70 percent of their bodies, to the National Medical College and Hospital. Faced with a shortage of beds, the hospital placed the victims on the floor.[12] Lacking an intensive burn care unit, the doctors had only ointments and saline drips available at the hospital to treat them. Arrangements made, the patients eventually moved to other hospitals.[9] Local MLA Javed Khan later incorrectly reported the death toll at least twelve.[5][13] The Rapid Action Force also deployed to maintain calm.[5][12]
Criticisms of the emergency response
People living in the vicinity of the illegal factory said that the number of deaths might have been reduced had the fire service responded promptly. They claimed that the fire brigade failed to send personnel or equipment to the scene until more than an hour after the brigade first received word of the fire. Residents also claimed that it was only after the police arrived and requested fire service backup that any help was sent.[5] In addition, some on the scene reported an inadequate number of ambulances.[13] The city's mayor admitted to this lapse the following morning.[13] Complaints were not limited to the fire brigade's late response, however. Local people also complained that the victims should never have been taken to the Calcutta National Medical College. Rather, they should have been transported directly to hospitals with burns units, residents said.[14]
Investigations
Accident investigation
An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the fire as well as the reason the building had been locked from the outside.[1] To this end, the building was inspected by the KMC, upon which it was scheduled to be demolished on Thursday, November 23. Yet, the structure is standing to this date.[9] Although no actual cause of the fire was established, it has been noted that large quantities of inflammable materials, such as adhesives, were stored inside the building.[5] It was also revealed that the factory experienced a similar fire two years previously, but there were no fatalities on that occasion.[10]
Criminal investigation
As noted earlier, a separate criminal investigation has focused on the illegal factory itself.[2] Almost all factories and homes in the area were illegal and unauthorised,[9] and did not follow building codes and sanctions.[10] Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said action would be taken against the owners of the factory and house, and Superintendent of Police of South 24 Parganas S.N. Gupta said that the owners of the building would be arrested.[12] Investigation has shown that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) issued notices to the building on three separate occasions, in 1988, 1989, and 1992. Yet, it took no further action. It has been shown, however, that the KMC approved trade licences for two businesses to operate from the building.[9] The owner of the building, Khurshid Alam, has had a police complaint filed against him by the fire department for illegal construction charges. Mohammed Sagir Ahmed and Mohammed Asif, the owners of Tenex Exports, also face related charges.[8] Both investigations are ongoing.
Notes
- ^ Although this is technically impossible to prove, it may be taken as true due to a lack of results stating otherwise based on a wide range of Google searches.
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2006 Kolkata leather factory fire Portal |
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "9 dead in Kolkata factory fire", Central Chronical, 2006-11-22. Retrieved 2006-12-17.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedIRNA - ↑ Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, Kolkata Newsline. May 24, 2007. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=237930#. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
- ↑ Nine Die, 18 Injured in Kolkata Factory Fire. Islamic Republic News Agency 2006-11-22. http://www.irna.com/en/news/view/line-20/0611229711182210.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-17
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 "Fire in Kolkata factory, 9 dead", CNN-IBN, 2006-11-22. Retrieved 2006-12-17.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Nine dead in Kolkata factory fire", HindustanTimes.com, 2006-11-22. Retrieved 2006-12-17.
- ↑ "Fire in Kolkata leather factory kills 9 people.", ExpressIndia.com, 2006-11-22. Retrieved 2006-12-17.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 "Locked in to be burnt to death - Nine killed in illegal factory in illegal house", Calcutta Telegraph, 2006-11-23. Retrieved 2006-12-17.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 "Factory Fire in Kolkata Causes 9 Deaths", India Daily. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Locked-in workers battle death by fire", Express India, 2006-11-23. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
- ↑ "The men who died young", Calcutta Telegraph, 2006-11-24. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Leather factory fire kills nine", India eNews, 2006-11-22. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "12 charred to death in factory fire", The India Tribune, 2006-11-22. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
- ↑ "Locked-in workers charred in Topsia", The Times of India, 2006-11-23. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
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