West Bengal: Youth dies after falling down stairs during earthquake evacuation

According to reports, Samrat Das, a final year student of a B.Ed. college in Murshidabad district, was in his room on the first floor of his Siliguri house when the earthquake occurred and he fell down stairs during evacuation.

"Samrat was running very fast to evacuate the house during evacuation and suddenly he fell down stairs and went unconscious," deceased's mother, Usha Das, told IBNS.

The youth was rushed to a private hospital at Sevoke Road where he was pronounced dead.

Local police, however, have started investigation into the reason behind the 22-year-old's death.

"We have sent the body for post-mortem and after receiving its report, we can say the exact reason behind his death," a police official told IBNS. 

Earlier in the morning, an earthquake of 5.5 magnitude hit Assam's Kokrajhar district and neighbouring states of Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh  in the north-east, Indian meteorological department said.

Tremors were also felt in Kolkata, Cooch Behar, Alipirduar and Darjeeling districts of West Bengal, as well as parts of Bihar.

According to the meteorological office, the  earthquake stuck around 10:20 am at a depth of 13 kilometers.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located at Sapatgram in Dhubri district of Assam, about 250 km from Guwahati.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)