Six of a family die in midnight fire at home above grocery shop in Yedshi

Six members of one family were killed in a fire that tore through their home at Yedshi village in Dharashiv district around midnight. One person in the household got out alive.

The family lived on the floor above a grocery shop. Preliminary information suggests that everyone was asleep when the blaze began without warning. The shop and the house were surrounded by wood and other material that burns quickly, and with the fire breaking out at night it spread rapidly. Flames and thick black smoke filled the house before the family could grasp what was happening, and they found no way out. Six of them are understood to have died of suffocation as the smoke cut off their breath.

The survivor was brought out and is undergoing treatment in hospital.

Neighbours rushed to the spot as soon as they learnt of the fire. Villagers and a fire brigade team worked together to douse the flames and reach those trapped inside. The fire was fierce and took a great deal of effort to bring under control. Although the rescue was carried out on a war footing, it came too late for the six.

The bodies were taken to the government hospital in Dharashiv, where doctors are reported to have said that all six had died before they were brought in.

Police and administration officials have reached Yedshi, and an investigation is under way. Early indications point to a lamp lit in the house for Diwali as the possible cause. However, the exact cause has not been established, and the lamp has not been officially confirmed as the source of the fire. How the fire started, how it travelled through the house and what factors made it so deadly will be known only after an official inquiry.

The loss of six members of a single household, coming just after the Diwali festival, has left Yedshi and the surrounding area in deep grief.