West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday that “combustible materials stored inside” were the reason behind the hotel fire in Kolkata.

The fire started Tuesday night and killed at least 14 people, including two children.

In response to the tragic fire at a six-story hotel building on Madan Mohan Burman Street in downtown Kolkata, the chief minister sent his sympathies.

The Chief Minister had not, however, made any announcements on compensation for the victims of the Tuesday night fire at the time the report was submitted.

Ex gratia payments of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF to each dead person’s next of kin and Rs 50,000 for each wounded person have already been declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Chief Minister made a message on her official X Twitter, saying, “My heart goes out to the victims of the fire incident that took place at a private hotel (Rituraj) in BurraBazar area.”

She and almost her whole cabinet are now in Digha, East Midnapore district, for the opening of the Lord Jagannath Temple, which is modeled after the famous Shree Jagannath Dham temple in Puri, Odisha.

She said in her statement that she mobilized all of the local fire department services and kept an eye on the rescue and firefighting efforts all night long.

In the end, 14 people perished as a result of the flammable items kept there. The inquiry has been mandated. In her message, the Chief Minister expressed her sympathies to the families of the victims and her solidarity with everyone impacted.

The hotel-like incident may occur in any of the buildings in the region, which is a bustling trade center of the city, according to Sajal Ghosh, a BJP councillor from Kolkata Municipal Corporation who hurried to the scene in the morning.

The majority of these structures are illegally constructed, and none of them have the bare minimum of fire safety features. Similar fires in such unlawful buildings have occurred in the past as well. For apparent reasons, however, the state fire services department, the corporation, and the police are all hesitant to take action against such unlawful buildings, Ghosh said.

In the meanwhile, concerns have been raised over the building’s complete absence of fire protection measures.

Since the fire started on Tuesday night, the hotel owner has apparently vanished, and the staff does not know where he is.

Three significant shortcomings in the hotel authorities’ property safety protocols were identified during a preliminary investigation: insufficient ventilation facilities, poor interior fire extinguishing procedures, and a lack of alternate access and evacuation routes.