HYDERABAD: A couple died and their daughter was hospitalised after they were asphyxiated due to smoke from firecrackers that caught fire in their home in East Chandranagar, Yakutpura late on Monday.
The deceased were identified as Mohan Lal and Usha Bai while their daughter Shruti Gupta is battling for life in a private hospital, Rein Bazar police confirmed.
A senior officer told TNIE, “The family used to stay on the first floor of the building and were preparing for Deepavali. Prima facie, it appears that the firecrackers they kept in their home for Deepavali caught fire from a stove used by a nearby vendor. The smoke filled the house and the couple died of suffocation. There are no burn marks on the bodies.”
Meanwhile, an investigation into the fire that gutted a shop selling firecrackers on Sunday has brought to sharp focus the dangers posed to citizens by such outlets. Most of these shops rarely adopt safety measures and very few even obtain trade licences.
The shop that was gutted on Sunday only had a temporary licence to conduct business in an open area, but was instead operating out of a ground-plus-mezzanine-floor store, said Y Nagi Reddy, DG, Fire Safety.