A 41-year-old man died while trying to save his mother and two children after a fire broke out at their residence-cum-shop in east Delhi's Shahdara area on Friday morning. Six other family members were also injured.
The deceased was identified as Harish Kumar. The incident took place around 5.30 am when Harish's wife was out for a morning stroll. The reason for the fire is being probed, however, officials have not ruled out the possibility of a short circuit.
"We got a call around 5:45 am. Fire tenders were pressed in immediately and the fire was controlled by 6 am. Six persons were injured while one was reported dead," said Chief Fire Officer, Atul Garg of Delhi Fire Service.
Locals told DNA that Kumar had built a partition door between his shop and the home, but on Friday morning, he saw smoke coming out of his shop. Sensing trouble, he guided his mother and both the sons towards the upper floor of the building. However, when he tried accessing the partition door to prevent the fire from spreading, he fell unconscious on the floor and succumbed to the suffocation due to smoke.
Kumar had been running a mobile shop for years in the area but it was just a year before that his wife joined the business and added a counter for cosmetic products along with a beauty parlor in the same shop. "The cosmetic products in the shop could be the possible reason for fire spreading through the shop," Ravikant, who runs a photo studio in Kumar's neighborhood said.
Kumar's mother along with five other members of the family was admitted to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. Four of them were later discharged but Kumar's mother was referred to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital as she faced difficulty in breathing.
Narrating the incident, Sunil Kumar, a relative of the deceased, said, "Harish's wife had switched on the water pump before going out for a morning stroll. But when she returned, her shop was gutted by the fire which was possibly the result of a short circuit."
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