Mid Day Tragedy on Park Street

I had gone down the road from my office to an ATM to draw money. As I approached the ATM, I noticed black smoke billowing out from the adjacent street into the sky above Park Street just above Music World.

I quickly rushed to the corner and saw a sea of people gathering around witnessing smoke engulf the top three floors of Stephen Court.

What followed was simply tragic and inspiring.

The entire crossroads of Park Street, Free School Street and Middleton Row was like a sea of humanity, each witnessing the fire spreading through the top floors of the building. Policemen were at a complete loss trying to control the public which also hindered movement of Fire tenders, well at least the 2-3 of which had arrived at the scene.

The tenders could only be put to use, once the people, several of whom were out on the ledge of the building were rescued. Witnessing the rescue operations commence just made me realise how selfless people in Kolkata are. What we call lowly street people were the first to arrange ropes and ladders and even went to the extent of climbing up pipes to reach those people stuck up there.

The firemen had no equipment save their short ladders which were more than inadequate for the mammoth task ahead. The monolithic façade of this historic building would require more than those puny ladders if they wanted this operation to succeed. Not withstanding the challenges and obstacles in their path a couple of young men tied together a couple of ladders and managed to scale the side wall up to an external AC several feet below where the people were stranded. Then started the task of putting together rope and throwing it up to the ledge just above. They did manage to get a lady and a young man who in sheer desperation jumped down but luckily landed on the ladder and slid the rest of the way down into the hands of the people below.

The drama took a turn for the worse and flames leapt out of both windows on either side of the middle aged man in a blue shirt who was the last one up on the ledge on this side of the building. Three others had managed to flee to the Park Street side but were still stuck up there. All eyes were on the man in blue. As the young man below threw up the rope the first time, the crowd below held their breath and heaved in disappointment as he missed it. The crowd were now getting eager and the man in blue getting more engulfed in black and grey smoke. People urged the man below to throw the rope up quicker and he did for the second time. And again the man in blue missed it.

By this time people’s hopes were beginning to shake as the man in blue kept disappearing behind the clouds of smoke. And then in complete disbelief, as the smoke cleared we all witnessed the unbelievable. In sheer desperation, the man held on to the grill and turned around and lowered himself over the ledge, the young man below looked and tried his best to get a grip and then the unthinkable happened. The man in blue lost his grip and fell. Though I was recording all this on my mobile phone, I couldn’t believe what I just witnessed and lowered the phone in disbelief as the man plummeted down to the floor. I could see firemen below racing and trying to get under where he was falling, but with no cushion or net, I would believe the worst had occurred. In the split second that I had realised that I was also recording all this and I had lowered my phone and pulled it back into position, the worst had occurred right before my eyes.



There after, the crowd got even more agitated and rescue operations went into feverish pace for the remaining three stranded on the safer side of the burning building. Ladders were commandeered off fire tenders and young men started climbing up pipes to reach these three men above. Again, tragedy could have struck when the first man in sheer desperation, made an attempt to climb down the make shift arrangements. Some nylon ropes put together and a ladder half way up to them. He just went for it and gripped the rope with all his might and came sliding down and was somehow caught by the people below. His palms had the skin burnt off.

The next lad waited a bit longer and as the ladders reached closer, he decided to climb down gripping the rope till he reached the ladders and then climbed down to safety. The third fellow was now standing up there nervously. The young man in the red vest had managed to climb up just below him and beckoned him to make the effort and use the rope to climb down to the ladder just a couple of feet below but he seemed to nervous to attempt this.

Finally as though god had heard his prayers, from opposite sides of Park Street with lights flashing came two of the hi-tech rescue Vehicles with the crane arm. So as one went down to Middleton Row, the other positioned itself squarely in front of Flury’s in the middle of Park Street and then the arm started extending towards the young man up there on the ledge. Once the fireman reached up there and the man stepped into the pod safely beside him, there was a loud cheer from the crowd below. As the arm came down and the young man was back on the ground, the cheering crowd greeted him.



Meanwhile Firefighting Operations were underway on the burning side of the building.

I finally switched off my recorder and nearly broke into tears after witnessing the drama that had unfolded on the Kolkata’s Capital Street of Entertainment.

As I walked down the middle of Park Street back towards my office, I kept looking back and seeing how a tragedy could just take lives and yet bring a city together in the face of such trying circumstances. Common people rose above the adverse circumstances and performed uncommon acts of bravery.

This is why I LOVE KOLKATA. Truly a City that gives you Joy even in the most tragic situations.