Three injured in Kolkata studio fire

Three people were injured while several actors, including Bengali star Rachana Banerjee, had a close shave when a fire broke out in a private studio here during the shooting of a popular TV game show.

The fire was first noticed around 2 p.m. when the shooting of "Didi No 1", hosted by Rachana, was in full swing. Five fire tenders were pressed into service and extinguished the blaze in an hour.

"I am not in a position to talk now. I just had a narrow escape. I am terrified at the thought," said Rachana who acted with megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the Hindi movie "Suryavansham".

As the news of the fire spread, there was a mad melee as the actors and technicians rushed outside to safety. One of the actors fainted.

Some of them also accused the fire tenders of reaching the spot late.

"Not only the engines reached late but one of them had no water. It could have been a big disaster," said actress Ratna Ghosal.