Kolkata under: Amid death and despair, kin of workers search for the living

Family members of the workers who went missing after the Taratala warehouse collapse on Wednesday (June 24, 2026) frantically searched for them at the site of the accident and in the State-run SSKM Hospital. But for many, the dash to the hospital took them nowhere.

“I learnt about the accident at 3 p.m. and since then I have gone to the spot and to the hospital but have found no trace of my brother Khaleq Sardar. He was working at the site,” said a youth who had come from Basanti in the State’s South 24 Parganas district.

Kolkata under-construction warehouse collapse: Follow developments on June 24, 2026

Another man from the city’s Kidderpore area said he had last spoken to his relative on Tuesday night and after learning about the accident he had gone to the hospital and the construction site.

According to the West Bengal government, about 25 persons have been rescued from the site of whom five have died. There is no clarity on the number of people still trapped under the debris.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said attempts are being made to identify the labour contractor. “Most of the workers were brought from Bihar’s Munger and adjoining areas,” he said.

Mr. Adhikari lauded the efforts of locals who, along with the police, took part in the rescue operations within minutes after the accident.

“I could see at least five to six people stuck under the debris screaming for help. Many of them were my neighbours,” said Biru Das. Mr. Das, who works in a nearby warehouse, said that he along with others rescued about six people from the rubble. “Of them, one died,” he said.

Ujjal Kumar, another local, recalled “a strong tremor like an earthquake” when the structure crashed. “After that, there was a loud noise like an explosion,” he said. Mr. Kumar added that he and other workers were resting when the accident occurred and they rushed to the spot to join the rescue efforts.

An eyewitness, Raju, said the construction had been going on for the past six months and it had been only three days since work on laying the concrete roof of the third floor began.

“I knew some people from that godown. But I am not sure whether they escaped or are still trapped. Asgar Khan, the one who got the tender for the construction work, was also probably there when the accident took place,” he said.

Sajid, another local, claimed that many of the workers were called in because the roof seemed to be shaking. “Probably the heavy rain damaged the construction. Many workers might have gone there to check it,” he said.

Many people who work in warehouses around the site said that the contractor, Mr. Asgar, is well-known and believed to be close to the former Trinamool Congress councillor of the area (ward number 80) Anwar Khan, who locals chased away from the site.

The land on which the warehouse was coming up belongs to the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Authority, which had granted a 30-year lease from August 2024 to the private firm Behera Brothers.