Six charred to death as fire breaks out in multi-storey building in Delhi

Six people were charred to death and one was injured when a fire broke out in a multi-storey building in northwest Delhi's Pitampura area on Thursday evening, officials said.

The cause of the fire, which broke out on the first floor of the building, is yet to be ascertained, they said.

A call was received at 8 pm about the blaze at plot no. 37, ZP block, Pitampura and eight fire tenders were pressed into service, the fire officials said.

Seven people were rescued with the help of local police and rushed to Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital. Six of them, including four women, were declared dead at the hospital, a Delhi Fire Services (DFS) official said.

Another DFS officer said the fire was doused in an hour and the cooling operation was underway.

A police officer said the fire broke out on the first floor of the building and the smoke engulfed the three floors above it.

According to preliminary information, those killed in the incident were from two different families. The deceased were aged between 25 and 60, he said.

There was a parking area on the ground floor while people lived on the remaining floors, he further said.

Further investigation is underway, police said.