BHOPAL: An early morning killer blaze at a double-storeyed residential building in Indore's Swarna Bag Colony's locality engulfed at least seven lives forever.
Nine persons were rescued alive from the building by the firefighters, out of which some are stated critical.
According to a senior Indore Police official, the Dial 100 emergency response service received a call at around 3 am about the blaze in the building in Swarna Bag Colony under the Vijay Nagar police station area.
"Police and fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot and started fire fighting/rescue operations," the official said.
The firefighters climbed into the burning building and brought out a total of 16 residents trapped inside.
According to sources present at the spot at least two of those rescued out of the building had died before being rushed to the government MY Hospital and other hospitals.
Five others died at the hospital or on way to the hospital. Two of the seven who died in the blaze were women, sources said.
Among others under treatment at the hospital, some are stated as critical.
"Primary investigations have revealed that the inferno was triggered by a short circuit in the main electric supply panel of the building installed at the entry point in the basement. The fire soon engulfed the motorbikes parked in the basement and the blaze spread to other parts of the building. No fire safety equipment was found installed in the building," the Indore police official said.
Five of the deceased have been identified. The deceased hail from Indore and Dewas in MP and Jhansi in UP. Two of the deceased were living on rent in the building as their own house in the neighbourhood was being constructed/renovated. Those living in the building included working professionals and students.
Acting in the matter, the police have detained the building owner Ansar Patel, who has been booked under IPC Section 304A (causing death by negligence), a senior cop told The New Indian Express.
The entire building has been sealed for investigation purposes.