Amritsar:
Five members of a family including four minors were charred to death when their house caught fire while they were asleep in Thothiya village of the district, police said on Thursday.
The deceased have been identified as Manjit Kaur (45), her children Komalpreet (16), Navpreet (14), Kajal (12) and Vishal (10), they said.
The family members had gone to sleep on Wednesday night after lighting an 'angithi' to keep themselves warm but were soon woken up by excessive smoke in the room.
While trying to escape, one of them accidentally hit the 'angithi' which fell down and led to other items in the room catching fire as well.
As the room was bolted they were unable to get out in time and were charred to death, police said.
Kaur's husband Joginder Singh, who works at a private firm in Mumbai, was not present at the time of the incident.
The bodies have been sent for autopsy and would be handed over to the family on Thursday afternoon, said police.