A security guard was crushed to death when an explosion, possibly in an LPG cylinder, dislodged a fire panel on the roof of a wedding hall in Baguiati and it came crashing down.
The guard was trapped under debris for quite a while. He has been identified as Chandra Sekhar Bera, 38, from Purba Medinipur district.
At least another security guard and two hotel employees are among the injured, according to an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate.
The two hotel employees were on a lift when the explosion took place. The police are trying to verify accounts that said the lift that was on its way up crashed.
A fire service officer said a wedding reception was going on at the banquet of Celesta Hotel when the incident took place.
“We received information in the evening that an explosion had taken place at the hotel and at least two persons were trapped inside the security room. We sent three engines to the spot as soon as we received the call,” a fire service officer said.
One of the guards was rescued without delay. But getting to the other security guard was a challenge as pneumatic hammers and other hydraulic equipment could not be used as the vibrations could have caused more damage to the structure and harmed him.
“We managed to pull the trapped guard out from the debris but he was not breathing,” said the fire officer.
According to another police officer, an ambulance was arranged immediately and the guard was taken to a government-run hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
“We have started an investigation into the cause of the explosion and how the fire panel on top of the hotel got dislodged,” said a senior officer of the commissionerate.