Five members of two families were rescued from the top floor of an old three-storeyed building in central Kolkata’s Sealdah after the staircase collapsed on Monday afternoon, leaving them stranded.
Members of the Disaster Management Group of Kolkata police joined firefighters in rescuing the family members. The operation, led by police commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal, saw installation of a mechanical ladder to bring down the trapped residents, who stayed in the building as tenants.
Among those rescued was a teenager, who was coming down the flight of steps around 12.30pm when he saw a portion of the rickety staircase collapse.
The boy’s cries alerted his mother, who was cooking upstairs. She got in touch with their next-door neighbours, who alerted the police and the fire and emergency services department. Two fire tenders soon reached the spot and the area around the building, near Purabi cinema on Mahatma Gandhi Road, was cordoned off.
Dalia Das, the boy’s mother, said she had rushed out of the kitchen after hearing the sound of the collapse of the staircase and saw her son crying standing on the portion that was still intact.
“The owner has been wanting to demolish the house to make way for a new building. My son had a close shave,” said Dalia.
The building has vegetation jutting out of brick walls, signs of little or no maintenance. The ground floor has several shops.
The police said families staying on the first floor were not around when the staircase collapsed. Only those on the top floor were stranded.
“All five who were stuck were safely rescued and no one was injured,” said a senior police officer.
Senior officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation said the building was declared as “dangerous” in 2016.
“There was a pet dog and a rabbit, too, and they were also rescued safely,” said a senior officer of the fire and emergency services department.
“There could have been a disaster had the building’s front, which stands on the busy MG Road, collapsed.”