West Bengal: Woman killed, 15 shanties gutted in blaze

A middle-aged woman was killed and 15 shanties were gutted in a blaze in West Bengal's Malda district on Wednesday, police said. The fire that erupted in a hut in Uttar Baluchar area of English Bazar town between 3.30 and 4 am on Wednesday quickly spread to other shanties in the slum, a police officer said.

Fifty five-year-old Shefali Barua was charred to death and 15 shanties were gutted in the incident, he said. The blaze was doused after a few hours of fire-fight, a fire brigade official said.

"The affected families have been shifted to a relief camp," local councillor Prasenjit Das said. The body has been sent for post-mortem and a probe has been initiated to ascertain the cause of the fire, the police officer added..