KOLKATA: A family from Odisha's Bargarh lived through a nightmare and a miracle on Tuesday night, holding on to a window ledge and their lives when fire engulfed Rituraj Hotel.
What was supposed to be a vacation turned into a horrifying ordeal for the Agarwal family and ended with tears of both fear and gratitude.
Akash and Neha Agarwal came to Kolkata last week with their two sons and a nephew to watch the Kolkata Knight Riders match on Saturday, which was eventually washed out due to rain, and to do sightseeing in the city. But just as they were preparing to check out of the hotel around 8 pm on Tuesday, the fire forced them to go through a horrifying ordeal. Their two sons stepped out of the hotel with some of their luggage when the fire broke out, while Akash, Neha, and their nephew were still in the room. They were quickly surrounded by choking black smoke.
"The entire place was filling up with smoke fast. We couldn't even breathe," said Akash Agarwal, a businessman who frequently visits Kolkata. "We called our elder son and told him to stay safe. We didn't know what would happen to us."
As smoke filled up their fourth-floor room, panic turned into helplessness. "We were most worried about our young nephew. For a moment, we gave up," said Akash. But in that moment of despair, Neha spotted a narrow opening in the window grille. She instructed her nephew to squeeze through it and stand on the ledge of the window on the third floor. Akash and Neha followed, squeezing through the narrow space to join their nephew on the third-floor ledge, witnessing the commotion unfold in front of their eyes below.
For the next 30 harrowing minutes, they stood frozen on the ledge, while locals and firemen scrambled to find a way to reach them. Eventually, with the help of ropes and ladders, they were brought down — first to the second floor, then the first, and finally to safety — after an intense fight for survival for two hours.
"We are grateful to God that we survived," said Neha on Wednesday morning when the family returned to collect their luggage. "But we cannot describe the ordeal we went through."
"My son told me he had been telling the firefighters to try and rescue us. Both of them ran to us and hugged us tight when they saw us walk out fine. We checked into another hotel but none of us could sleep the whole night. If I had not shown the courage to squeeze out of the window, situations would have unfolded differently," said Neha.
"We checked into a hotel near EM Bypass — and the first thing we asked was whether they had proper fire safety equipment," said Neha. "We are never staying in Burrabazar again. Never."
What was supposed to be a vacation turned into a horrifying ordeal for the Agarwal family and ended with tears of both fear and gratitude.
Akash and Neha Agarwal came to Kolkata last week with their two sons and a nephew to watch the Kolkata Knight Riders match on Saturday, which was eventually washed out due to rain, and to do sightseeing in the city. But just as they were preparing to check out of the hotel around 8 pm on Tuesday, the fire forced them to go through a horrifying ordeal. Their two sons stepped out of the hotel with some of their luggage when the fire broke out, while Akash, Neha, and their nephew were still in the room. They were quickly surrounded by choking black smoke.
"The entire place was filling up with smoke fast. We couldn't even breathe," said Akash Agarwal, a businessman who frequently visits Kolkata. "We called our elder son and told him to stay safe. We didn't know what would happen to us."
As smoke filled up their fourth-floor room, panic turned into helplessness. "We were most worried about our young nephew. For a moment, we gave up," said Akash. But in that moment of despair, Neha spotted a narrow opening in the window grille. She instructed her nephew to squeeze through it and stand on the ledge of the window on the third floor. Akash and Neha followed, squeezing through the narrow space to join their nephew on the third-floor ledge, witnessing the commotion unfold in front of their eyes below.
For the next 30 harrowing minutes, they stood frozen on the ledge, while locals and firemen scrambled to find a way to reach them. Eventually, with the help of ropes and ladders, they were brought down — first to the second floor, then the first, and finally to safety — after an intense fight for survival for two hours.
"We are grateful to God that we survived," said Neha on Wednesday morning when the family returned to collect their luggage. "But we cannot describe the ordeal we went through."
"My son told me he had been telling the firefighters to try and rescue us. Both of them ran to us and hugged us tight when they saw us walk out fine. We checked into another hotel but none of us could sleep the whole night. If I had not shown the courage to squeeze out of the window, situations would have unfolded differently," said Neha.
"We checked into a hotel near EM Bypass — and the first thing we asked was whether they had proper fire safety equipment," said Neha. "We are never staying in Burrabazar again. Never."
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