Kolkata: Two cousins from Uttar Pradesh — Prithvi and Pankaj Agrahari — jumped 15ft from a second-floor window of Hotel Taiba to escape from the fire that broke out in Shikha Inn, located on the same floor of the building on Mirza Ghalib Street. Their fall was broken by an asbestos-and-tin shed.The duo came to Kolkata for the first time to meet a friend. “There was an iron staircase that became so hot that we could not place our feet on it. The entire second floor was filled with thick smoke and our eyes were hurting. Two of us found a window and jumped down to the asbestos roof of a small room. We sustained injuries on our legs as a few sharp objects were piled up on the roof,” Prithvi said.Pankaj said, “Had we not taken the risk and jumped, we might have been charred to death like the boarders of Shikha Inn. Our room was near the back of the second floor, so we could jump before the fire reached that part. We had checked in on Tuesday and encountered this tragedy on Wednesday.”The two started shouting for help and they were rescued by the fire brigade and cops with the help of a ladder. They were taken to Medical College and Hospital in an ambulance, where they received treatment. “Our parents have been informed, and we will return home,” said Prithvi, sitting on the staircase of another hotel with his cousin after being released from the hospital.“After dinner, we were playing games and watching reels on our phones before we went to sleep. In the dead of night, I woke up to screams. Opening the door, I discovered that the floor on fire. I woke Pankaj and we became so nervous that we could not understand what to do. We were looking for an escape route but the building has no emergency exit and the lift was not working. How come one G+4 building like this has only one entrance and one lift?” Prithvi said.
