Kolkata: A fire broke out at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Kharagpur’s Lal Bahadur Shastri Common Room on Sunday due to an unidentified cause.
No casualty or injury has been reported, but several crucial documents are suspected to be destroyed in the fire.
IIT sources said the blaze in the common room was noticed by the security personnel at around 3 a.m. when the students, researchers, and staff were fast asleep.
Panic soon spread among the residents within the campus as the entire campus got covered by black smoke.
The fire was brought under control after rigorous fire-fighting that lasted over a couple of hours.
The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. However, the fire officials suspect that a short circuit was the reason for the fire.
The source of the fire was a storeroom near the common room. However, questions are being raised about the fire-prevention measures at this iconic technology institute of the country. To recall in March 2021, a similar fire broke out at IIT- Kharagpur. No casualty or loss of property were reported then.
With inputs from IANS