In a tragic incident, 10 persons were charred to death as fire broke out in a house in the early hours of Saturday in the Sewla Jat area of Agra. The victims included four adults and six children, all belonging to the same family.
The incident took place in Sewla Jat area under Sadar police station of Agra city.
The house is owned by Braj Mohan Agarwal, who was sleeping on the ground floor of the three- storeyed house with his wife Savita.
Braj Mohan Agarwal runs a provision store house at ground floor of house while his sons, employed in different businesses of paint and tent, lived on the first and second floors of the house.
According to sources, the children in house had been studying in candle light as power went off in early in the night. Apprehensions are that children slept without putting off candles and this could have caused the fire. The police is also working on the theory that a gas cylinder blast or short-circuit could have caused the fire.
The fire was noticed around 3 am on Saturday and fire tenders were immediately called in. The firemen had to break the wall of a nearby house to access the rooms on fire. Ten bodies were taken out from the floors that were on fire.
Mr Ajay Kumar Chauhan, the District Magistrate of Agra told reporters that investigations were on to ascertain the exact cause of the fire.
“It is apparent that those killed in the incident were caught off guard and did not have time to evacuate themselves,” he said.
Four persons are reported to be injured as they tried moved out of the house as the fire spread.