7 of family die in Mumbai house blaze

A fire in Siddharth Colony, a slum in Chembur (E), early Sunday killed 7 members of a family, including 3 minors, while 2 others sustained minor injuries. It erupted at 5am, tearing through their ground-plus-two home, sparing only family head Chedilal Gupta and one of his two sons, Dharamdev. The fire was extinguished hours later, at 9.15am.
Chedilal's wife Gitadevi was sleeping on the ground floor, which houses a grocery shop with kerosene and other items.Locals believe a lit diya on the floor may have sparked the fire, with kerosene fuelling it. Mumbai frequently witnesses blazes in informal housing settlements and narrow lanes which make entry for fire brigade difficult.