5 of family went to sleep with air-conditioner on, found charred in morning

Fire service officials said the initial findings suggested that the fire broke out due to a short circuit in the air conditioner when the family was sleeping in one portion of the house.

Five members of a family including a six-month-old infant were charred to death when a fire broke out in their house on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday. The house was being used to store LPG stoves and appliances in Ram Vihar Phase 2 of Indira Nagar police limits.

The fire soon spread to the portion of the house being used as a godown for LPG stoves by owner TN Singh. He was not present at the time of the incident.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed his condolences and issued an order to the Lucknow Police Commissioner to probe the incident and fix responsibility for any negligence in a week’s time.

According to the police, the deceased have been identified as Sumit Singh, his wife Julie, sister Vandana, nephew Dablu and infant daughter Baby.

Fire service officials said the initial findings suggested that the fire broke out due to a short circuit in the air conditioner when the family was sleeping in one portion of the house.

The fire soon spread to the other portion of the house being used as a godown for LPG stoves by the owner TN Singh. He was not present at the time of the incident, the fire officials said.

The fire officials added that the fire service control room was informed at 2.45 am after locals spotted smoke emanating from the house.

They said the family apparently fell unconscious while sleeping due to carbon monoxide fumes caused due to the fire and could not move out of the building.

The fire officials had to break the wall of the house from the back to enter the house due to the narrow approach route from the front. The flames were doused after almost five hours and the bodies were taken out.

Circle Officer of Ghazipur Deepak Singh said the bodies have been sent for the post mortem examination for further investigations. He said a team of forensic experts have also been called to examine the spot.

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