Six family members die in Maharashtra house and grocery shop fire
A fire suspected to have been caused by Diwali diyas killed six people in Yedshi village.
Six members of a family died after a fire broke out at their house and grocery shop in Yedshi village of Maharashtra’s Dharashiv district around 2.30 am on Monday. The victims included two elderly persons and two children, according to reports from The Indian Express and ANI.
The deceased have been identified as 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. One teenager from the family survived the incident.
Superintendent of Police Ritu Khoker Kalyan said the fire intensified rapidly because the ground floor grocery shop, Karande Kirana & General Stores, contained large stocks of cooking oil, ghee, plastic goods, and other materials. She noted that four people died due to suffocation and two died due to the fire.
Dharashiv Collector Keerthi Kiran Pujar and MP Omraje Nimbalkar stated that preliminary information suggests the fire may have been caused by traditional oil lamps, or diyas, lit for Diwali celebrations. The exact cause is yet to be established.
The fire brigade brought the blaze under control around 5 am on Monday. All six bodies were recovered and sent to the Dharashiv Government Hospital for postmortem examination.