Family of four suffocate to death in Dilshad Garden

Four members of a family including two children were killed on the small of Friday in Dilshad Garden in Shahdara district in Delhi after an electric junction box on the ground floor of the three-storey building went up in flames.

The incident took place hours after the family fell asleep after celebrating the birthday of their 12-year-old daughter. Two women are recuperating in Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.

"A short circuit is suspected to have caused the fire which gutted nearly nine vehicles parked nearby," said police.

The four members of the family were identified as Vijay Kumar Verma (63), Sanjay Verma (45) and his two children, Chiku (4) and Harshu (12), all of them were choked to death due to the smoke.

The two victims have been identified as Mona Verma (32), who received 40 to 50 per cent burn injuries and one Binesh Rathi (40). They are recuperating in the hospital, informed the police.

"The family seems to have got trapped on the staircase after they tried to escape from the first floor, " said chief fire officer Atul Garg.

The family had gone to sleep after celebrating the birthday of Harshu who had turned 12 on Thursday. He was killed in the fire along with her younger brother, father, and grandfather.

The fire department officials said that while the fire was 'mild', the victims died of suffocation as the first-floor of the building got filled with smoke due to the fire in the two-wheelers parked on the ground floor.

Fire department officials said 11 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire. However, help got delayed as fire tenders could not reach the spot due to the vehicles parked on both sides of the colony road.

"We had to remove the car manually to reach the spot," said the fire officer.

It took several hours for the fire officers to bring the blaze under control.

After reaching the spot, smoke was seen coming out of a three-storey building and then the family was rescued by the fire department officers but despite best efforts, the four lives could not be saved.

"The fire was doused early in the morning at around 5. Suspected cause of fire seems to be short-circuited," the officer added.