Drums of kerosene stocked in the shop exploded, the officials said. (Representational)
Three persons were killed as a fire broke out at a market in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district in the early hours of Saturday, officials said.
A short-circuit caused the fire that first broke out at a kerosene outlet in the Ghatakpukur Bazar area in Bhangar, around 20 km from Kolkata, they said.
Drums of kerosene stocked in the shop started exploding, following which the flames spread to an adjacent eatery, a shop and a house, they said.
The owner of the eatery, in his early 50s, along with two teenagers who used to work in it went inside the shop in order to save some valuables and douse the blaze, officials said.
However, they couldn't come out in time and were killed. It took five hours for three fire tenders to bring the blaze under control, officials said.
Goods worth lakhs of rupees were destroyed in the fire, they said.