Six members of a family died after a cylinder caught fire in a shanty in south-west Delhi’s Bijwasan on early Thursday, officials said.
According to fire officials, they received a call about a fire in a transformer at Balmiki Colony around 12.30 a.m. Four fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The officials said the fire came from a transformer and flames spread rapidly to two shanties nearby.
There were two to three shanties in a field at Balmiki Colony, said a senior police officer. Due to the fire and cylinder blast, labourer Kamlesh (37), his wife Budhani (32), their two daughters aged 16 and 12, and two sons aged 6 years and 3 months, died.
After the blaze was doused, fire officials and police personnel shifted the bodies to Safdarjung Hospital. Five persons in the other shanty are safe, police said. A case will be registered under relevant sections of law, they added.