Kolkata, Apr 30 (PTI) The music stopped, food was left unfinished and the lights of the illuminated wedding hall of a central Kolkata dharamshala were turned off, as a major fire in an adjacent hotel left 14 people dead.

Panic struck the wedding guests, as the situation outside 'Arya Samaj Dharamshala' on Madan Mohan Burman Street in Burrabazar area became chaotic as the fire spread in Rituraj Hotel a few metres away on Tuesday evening.

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"Around 150-200 guests, a large number of them women and children, were present at the courtyard of the building and the nearby banquet hall when we saw thick smoke engulfing the four floors of the hotel building and rushed out," said Haran Sardar, who is associated with the management of the dharamshala.

Their primary concern was to prevent the flames from spreading to the dharmashala building and escort the guests to a safe place outside.

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“The dharamshala authorities switched off the lights as a precautionary measure and keep only one on to help the guests move" Sardar told PTI.

The management of the dharamshala heaved a sigh of relief as all the guests including the bride and the groom left the spot around midnight through one end of a lane, while rescue and firefighting operations were on in full swing in the neighbouring premises.

“We watched helplessly as some people from the hotel roof waved their mobile torches to those standing on the ground seeking help,” he said.

The fire brigade personnel brought some of them down with the help of ladders and ropes and the dharamshala provided them with drinking water. The evacuated hotel guests left as the dawn broke.

"It was a sad sight as bodies wrapped in covers are brought down from the burnt hotel one after another," he said.

Another marriage is scheduled to take place in the same dharamshala on Wednesday.

“We requested the families to scale down the festivities. We asked them not to play any music or beat drums and not to install any decorative gates at the entrance. There can be flower decorations inside only,” Sardar said.

Mayank Gupta, one of the local youths who risked their lives to reach the first three floors to rescue people, said they managed to rescue four to five people.

“They were gasping… we took them to a hospital,” said Gupta who works in a transport company located in the area.

He claimed that the budget hotel had fire extinguishers lined up on the wall but those devices did not function.

Ravi Sau, an employee of a tea stall located opposite the disaster spot, recalled watching in horror that his friend Manoj Paswan, a staff of the hotel, jumped from an upper floor cornice to death.

"I feel heartbroken. However, thankfully around 30 other hotel employees chose to wait till help arrived. Some of them are in hospital," said Sau who hailed from Odisha.

All the shops in the vicinity of the hotel were closed on Wednesday while police barricaded the lane and a crowd stood on both sides of the road.

Most of the deceased lost their lives reportedly due to suffocation, and the blaze also left 13 others injured, officials said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)