Kin hear Kolkata fire victims' cries on mobiles, some for the last time

"I am in great distress, there is fire all around," was what Pritish Ghosh told his mother on phone before the link snapped.

Pritish, who had joined an IT company on March 1 in the Stephen Court building at Park Street, called his mother Pranati from his mobile phone, his father Pankaj Ghosh said. 

"I am in great distress. There is fire all around," said Ghosh while recounting the last time his son called home. 

The ubiquitous mobile phone was the last lifeline for many others after fire engulfed the Stephen Court on Tuesday, while rings and watches were the only means of identification of victims who failed to exit the building.

Ghosh and his relatives are frantically searching for Pritish who remains missing. 

But Pompa Chatterjee, who called home terrified after the fire broke out, is no more. She was crying as she spoke to her family members on her mobile saying she was trapped and would die, a family member said. 

"We heard her frantic cries briefly," she said. 

Pompa's father Debu Chatterjee and mother rushed to Stephen Court after hearing about the fire and identified their daughter's body at the morgue at SSKM Hospital. 

Bidyut Acharya, who worked at a call centre, called his brother-in-law Biswajit Roy after finding himself surrounded by flames. "My office is on fire, do something," he implored and then the line disconnected.

"I called back twice, the phone rang, but there was no response," said Roy, who has been searching for Bidyut. 

For Arati Sharma, who is on the missing list, it was initial days in her new company.

A girl from Asansol, who stayed in the metropolis as a paying guest, Sharma had called her father to inform him in the morning that she was leaving for office with a promise to call in the afternoon. But there was no call. 

Sunita Saha had rushed to Park Street after hearing on TV that the building where her fiance Rajendra Samanta worked was on fire. She found his charred body at the hospital morgue.

"His wrist watch helped me to identify the body," a tearful Saha said. They had planned to get married in August. 

Many of the bodies could only be identified by rings or watches that the victims, mostly youths and IT professionals, were wearing.

Also, 18-year-old twins Bijay and Jay Khandelwal, who had joined a private firm in the ill-fated building, were taken away together by the blaze.