JAMMU: Four people, including a woman and a child, were killed and 15 others injured after a massive fire broke out in a building here on Monday, police said.
The fire broke out in the evening in a scrap shop on the ground floor of the building in Residency Road area apparently due to a short circuit.
Soon the flames engulfed the entire building and some of the LPG cylinders kept inside exploded, said Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, Chandan Kohli.
He said three people, including a child, were charred to death in the incident and 15 others were rescued and rushed to the hospital. Another body was recovered later.
Residents of the building were mostly workers from Assam, the officials said. They said the condition of one of the injured, who had suffered 80 per cent burns, was stated to be critical. The identities of the deceased could not be established immediately, they added.
A spokesperson of the Fire and Emergency Services Department said they received a call about the fire around 6.10 pm and immediately rushed fire tenders to the spot.
Additional Director General of Police, Jammu, Mukesh Singh also rushed to the scene to supervise the firefighting and rescue operation.
Singh has directed SSP, Jammu to investigate the incident, a police spokesperson said. "Over a dozen families were living in the building. The fire spread very fast, many of the residents could not escape immediately," said a building resident Anwar Hussain.
Another survivor, Yasmeena Khatoon, said the building residents lost everything in the fire. "We could not retrieve anything and tried to flee the raging fire," she said, adding that many of her relatives are either injured or missing after the incident.
Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha condoled the loss of lives in the fire and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the families of the deceased.
"My condolences to the bereaved families and prayers for speedy recovery of the injured," he said in a series of tweets.
"An ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to be given to the families of the deceased while Rs 1 lakh be given to the seriously injured and Rs 25,000 to those with minor injuries," he said.
Sinha also directed the administration to provide all necessary assistance to the affected families.