Seven people, including two children, died of suffocation after a fire broke out in a tailoring shop in the early hours of Wednesday in Mahraashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, said a senior police official, reported news agency PTI. The fire started at around 4 am in the shop which was located at Dana Bazar in Cantonment Area.
The tailoring shop and other commercial establishments were located on the ground floor of a building while people were residing on the first floor, said the police official. After the blaze erupted in the shop, the smoke entered the first floor where a family was residing, he added.
"The shop suddenly caught fire at around 4 am. The police came to know about the incident at 4.15 am. Following the fire, smoke entered the first floor where a family was residing above the shop. Seven casualties have occurred due to suffocation," Police Commissioner Manoj Lohiya told reporters, as per the PTI report.
"The fire did not reach the second floor but after a preliminary investigation, seven people died due to suffocating," said an official, as per ANI.
Three women, two men, and two children were among the deceased, he said and according to an ANI all of them are from the same family.
The exact cause of fire would be known after an inquiry, the police official said.
The deceased have been identified as Asim Shaikh (3), Pari Shaikh (2), Wasim Shaikh (30), Tanveer Shaikh (23), Hamida Begum (50), Shaikh Sohail (35) and Reshma Shaikh (22), said another official, reported PTI.
The bodies of the deceased have been removed from the spot and sent for postmortem probe at the Government Medical College and Hospital, the ANI report quoting the official as saying.