Six of a family die in house fire at Yedshi village in Dharashiv, including teenage girl home for Diwali

A fire that broke out in a house at Yedshi village in Dharashiv district in the early hours of Monday killed six members of one family. The family was preparing to move into a newly built house but was trapped in its existing home before they could. Two teenage girls are among the dead.

The dead are Uttam Trimbak, 75, his wife Chandrakala, 70, their son Govind, 47, daughter-in-law Jyoti, 42, and two granddaughters aged 16 and 15. The 16-year-old studied in Pune and had returned to her ancestral village only a few days earlier to celebrate Diwali.

The fire broke out at around 2.30 am. Flames spread near the front door, and the family could not get out. All six are reported to have died of suffocation from smoke and severe burns.

Villagers rushed to the spot on seeing the fire and tried several ways of reaching the family. They threw water from buckets and switched on borewell pumps to douse the flames. Some climbed onto the house to fight the fire, and a JCB was called in to break through the rear wall and make a way in.

But the flames were so fierce that it was difficult even to go near the house. Despite repeated attempts, there was no response from inside.

A villager who took part in the rescue said residents did everything possible to save those trapped inside. He said the concern was not the loss of the house or belongings but the loss of six lives. Villagers remember the family as decent people of good standing.

The grief is deeper because the family had almost finished building a new house behind the existing one. They are reported to have been about to move in soon, but the fire broke out before they could shift.

The fire was so intense that a tall peepal tree standing in front of the house was scorched from root to crown. A nearby coconut tree was burnt completely.

People in Yedshi are in shock, especially those who saw the failed rescue attempts with their own eyes. How the fire started is not yet known.