2 Darjeeling hotels partially damaged in fire

EOI, DARJEELING, NOVEMBER 9, 2023 : In a mysterious fire, two rooms of two hotels located close together near the bungalow of the Superintendent of Police at Toongsoong in Darjeeling were gutted early on Thursday morning. However there were no reports of any casualties in the incident.

Local residents said the fire started at Siddharth Hotel and then spread to the adjacent Golden Orchid Hotel. Because of the timely intervention of three fire engines, the rest of the two six-storey hotels along with other houses in the vicinity were saved.

Local resident Rajen Thapa whose windows were damaged by the fire said: “It was around 12.30 that we heard a bike rider blowing the horn repeatedly. 

When we went to check, we saw that a fire had started at Siddharth Hotel. We went there along with other residents and tried to make them open the door, but they opened it late. 

Once opened, we tried to douse the flame with water an fire extinguishers; but the fire started to spread to the other hotel, with the upper floors of both the hotels being wooden. 

Owner of Golden Orchid Hotel Satyan said: “Two bikers were honking their horns repeatedly when I woke up and heard them shouting ‘fire.’ It was a small fire but I ran home to get the fire hose which we had installed recently but water did not come out of it as the water tank was down. 

Moreover, it took time for the people to open their hotel which had caught fire due to which there was a delay and the fire started to spread.” 

The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained but local people said it could be due to a heater. A Fire Brigade official said three fire engines had gone to douse the fire. “We got the information around 1 a.m. and came here. After that two more firetenders were called, one from Darjeeling and one from Kurseong. If we had not taken timely action, it could have been a bigger fire.”