A massive fire ripped through a building in outer Delhi's Kirari area early Monday, killing at least nine people, including three children. A baby was among those killed in the fire.
Nine fire tenders were deployed to control the blaze. No fire safety equipment was found in the building that housed a godown on the ground floor where clothes were kept.
During preliminary investigation, it was found that the fire started on the ground floor and engulfed the upper storeys, police said.
Those killed in the blaze were identified as the building owner Ram Chandra Jha (65), residents Sudariya Devi (58), Sanju Jha (36), Guddan, Udaykant Chaudhary (33) and his wife Muskan (26), their children Anjali (10), Adarsh (7) and three-month-old Tulsi, the fire department said.
A cylinder blast on the second floor caused a part of the building to collapse. It is suspected the fire started due to a short-circuit but the exact cause is being investigated, a fire department official said.
A senior police official said the single entry-exit point of the building was locked from inside when they reached the spot to douse the fire.
The official said it appears that Udaykant Chaudhary, one of the victims, had locked the gate of his house from inside when the smoke filled the floor and died of asphyxiation.
Earlier this month, 44 people were killed in a fire in a four-storey building housing illegal manufacturing units in north Delhi's congested Anaj Mandi area.
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