Four women and three children were killed, while two children were injured, after a three-storey apartment housing a paint shop on the ground floor was gutted in Gwalior on Monday, said the police.
“The cause of the fire in Inderganj, which broke out at 10 a.m., is yet to be ascertained. The paint shop and a godown inside the house had caught the fire,” said Satendra Singh Tomar, Addl. SP, West Gwalior.
The fire also enveloped the main entrance to the house. “People were trapped as there were no other gates or windows,” said Mr. Tomar.
Ten fire tenders, including those from an Air Force station nearby, were moved to the spot. “It took more than a hour to tame the fire,” he said. The condition of the injured children was stable.
Condoling the deaths, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan wrote on Twitter, “I pray that God gives the departed souls a place at his holy feet and the family of the deceased gets the strength to bear the deep sorrow.”