Amidst the devastation of the Kolkata hotel fire that claimed 14 lives, a small moment of relief unfolded on Wednesday when fire brigade personnel rescued a cat that was trapped inside the building for over 16 hours.
The full-grown feline had been stuck in a room on the third floor of Rituraj Hotel in Burrabazar, unable to escape the thick smoke or break free through the closed window panes as the fire broke out on the floors below around 7:30 PM on Tuesday.
During the night-long rescue and firefighting operation, no one noticed the animal initially.
It was only around 4 PM on Wednesday that firefighters heard its faint cries and spotted the cat clinging to a third-floor window, desperately trying to find a way down.
Alerted by its feeble calls, fire services personnel finally noticed the kitten trying to climb down from a third-floor window and brought it safely down by wrapping it in a towel.
"She was given water and looked fine," a firefighter said.
The fire claimed 14 lives and left 13 injured.
According to officials, 88 guests were staying across 42 rooms in the hotel when the fire broke out.
Most of the victims were trapped inside and died due to suffocation, while a few reportedly jumped from upper floors in panic.
"Most of those who died were trapped inside and could not escape the thick smoke," a senior officer of the Fire and Emergency Services Department said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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