Six of one family die in house fire at Yedshi village in Dharashiv district

Six members of one family, from three generations, died when a fire broke out suddenly at a house in Yedshi village of Dharashiv district in the early hours of Monday. They died inside the house of suffocation and burns. Grief has settled over Yedshi and the district.

The fire started near the main door of the house, so the family trapped inside could not get out. This led to the tragedy.

The dead are Uttam Trimbak Karande (75), Chandrakala Uttam Karande (70), Govind Uttam Karande (47), Jyoti Govind Karande (42), Gayatri Govind Karande (16) and Siddhi Govind Karande (15). Gayatri was studying in Pune. She had come home to Yedshi a short while earlier to celebrate Diwali. That Diwali turned out to be her last.

The Karande family was building a new house behind the old one in which they lived. Work on the new house was in its final stage and the family was soon to move in. The tragedy struck before they could step into it.

On getting news of the fire at 2.30 am, villagers rushed to help. They tried to put out the fire by switching on a borewell and throwing water from buckets. An attempt was also made to break through the back wall of the house with a JCB and get inside. But the flames and smoke were so fierce that there was no response from within, and by then all of them had died.

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

Villagers who witnessed the fire said: "We tried our best to save the family, we broke walls, but the fire was too fierce. These people were as good as gods, and we are deeply sorry that we could not save them."

Police reached the spot on receiving news of the incident and took the bodies into their custody. An investigation into the exact cause of the fire is under way.