9 killed as tornado, rains hit W Bengal

Shops and business establishments remained closed, and even the State secretariat recorded an attendance of merely 2.5 per cent.

State Home police Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya told newsmen that a 25-year-old woman and her five-year-old daughter were killed when their house collapsed at Amarpur village in Burdwan district on Thursday night. A 65-year-old man was also killed in house collapse at Pandua in Hoogly district on Thursday night, he added.

One person was electrocuted in Mominpur in Calcutta while another died in Bankura on Friday.

The minister said that reports have been received of four more deaths, including one in Calcutta and two in South 24Pargans district but they could not be confirmed.

He said a tornado hit several villages in Midnapore district affecting 25 families on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, fire brigade personnel rescued eight persons when a portion of the ground and first floors of a building collapsed at Market Street in the central part of the city.

A tornado hit several villages under Kharagpur police station in Midnapore district last night affecting 25 families. A woman was injured when the strong wind hurled her a few metres away from where she was standing.

Nearly 300 people were shifted to safer places from Mansua village in Burdwan district on Friday following heavy rains, police said.