Indore: A fire broke out in a two-storey building in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore in the early hours of this morning. Seven people, including two women, were charred to death in the blaze and eleven people have been rescued so far, of which five have been hospitalized, while officials added that most deaths were due to asphyxiation. Indore Police Commissioner Harinarayana Chari Mishra said, “The fire might have started through a short circuit. It took us 3 hours to bring the fire under control.”
The fire erupted due to a short circuit in the main electric supply system in the basement of the building located in Swarn Bagh colony in Indore at around 3.10 am this morning when residents were asleep. The fire then spread to two-wheelers and vehicles parked there, rapidly burning down the whole building in Indore’s Vijay Nagar locality, Vijay Nagar police station inspector Tehzeeb Qazi said.
The building’s owner Ansar Patel has been detained by the police and a case has been registered against him for causing death by negligence, as no fire safety equipment was installed in the building which had one flat on each floor. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan offered his condolences. The fire has been brought under control and a detailed investigation was on, Qazi said.