Maharashtra: 4 of family including 2 minors killed in fire at Pune shop

Pune: Four of a family, including two minors, died in a fire that broke out on Wednesday at an electric hardware shop in Purnanagar area of Pimpri Chinchwad in Maharashtra's Pune district, fire officials said.

The deceased have been identified as Chimnaram Chowdhary (48), Namrata Chimnaram Chowdhary (40), Bhavesh Chowdhary (15), and Sachin Choudhary (13), an official of the Fire Department of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation said.

The fire broke out at 5.25 am in the Pooja Heights building in Purna Nagar, Chikhli area.
Officials said that the bodies of the victims, who were sleeping on the mezzanine floor (an intermediate floor between the main floors of a building) of the shop's ground floor, have been recovered.

The fire has been extinguished, and the cooling process is underway, they said.
Initial assessments suggest that a short circuit might have been the cause of the fire." However, a thorough investigation is underway," officials said.
Officials said that the shop was completely gutted in the fire.