4 of family suffocate to death in house fire

New Delhi, June 25

Four members of a family suffocated to death after a fire broke out at their home in Dwarka’s Prem Nagar area, a Delhi Fire Services (DFS) official said on Tuesday.

He said the department was informed about the fire around 3.30 am and two fire tenders were sent to the spot.

The deceased were identified as Heera Singh Kakkar (48), his wife Neetu (40) and their sons Robin (22) and Lakshay (21). Kakkar was a photographer by profession and the house was owned by the family, the police said.

According to the DFS official, the fire was caused by an inverter and it spread to an adjacent sofa on the first floor of the two-storeyed building, leading to the four victims inhaling smoke.

The police said the main gate was locked from inside. Firefighters broke it down, rescued the family members and rushed four of them to the Rao Tularam Memorial Hospital, where doctors declared them dead.

Kakkar’s mother Sita Devi was sleeping on the ground floor of the building, a police officer said, adding that she was unharmed.

The fire was doused within a few minutes but there was a lot of smoke inside the house, the officer said.

The bodies were shifted to a mortuary for postmortem examination.