5 of family killed in fire at 5-storey building in Kanpur

A couple and their three minor daughters died in a blaze that broke out in a five-storey building in Chamanganj area here, police said on Monday.

Huge flames engulfed the building in the Prem Nagar area that houses shoe manufacturing units on its first and second floors, they said.

The bodies of Mohammad Danish, 45, his wife Nazneen Saba, 42, were retrieved from the fourth floor at around 1 am, while those of their daughters -- Sara, 15, Simra, 12, and Inaya, 7, -- were found on the same floor at around 6 am, said Additional DCP (Central) Rajesh Srivastava.

It took firefighters several hours to gain access to the fourth floor, officials said, adding that the victims were taken to the Ursula Horseman Memorial Hospital, where the doctors declared them brought dead.

According to police, the neighbours noticed huge flames and thick smoke emanating from the building on Sunday night and alerted the fire department and police.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Seesmau) Manjay Singh said an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the fire.

Preliminary probe suggests that the fire started in the basement and engulfed the first and second floors before being noticed by the neighbours, the ACP added.

"Initial suspicions point towards a possible short circuit or faults in the internal wiring, potentially originating from the floors where the shoe factory was operating," the ACP said.

"The fire led to blasts in a couple of domestic LPG cylinders that worsened the situation," he added.

State Disaster Response Force teams were also called to help the firefighters in the relief operations to extinguish the blaze completely, said ACP (Colonelganj) TB Singh.

"People from over half a dozen neighbouring buildings were evacuated to ensure their safety,” he added.

The officials have been instructed to investigate the building's legality and fire safety status and take action accordingly, a senior official said.