New Delhi: Six people, including a toddler, suffocated to death after an overturned mosquito coil sparked a blaze at a house in northeast Delhi’s Shastri Park. Three others were injured in the incident.
Sources said that the police received information around 9 am on Friday that a fire had broken out in a house at Mazar Wala Road in Shastri Park’s Machhi Market, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Joy Tirkey said.
Upon reaching the spot, the police found that nine people had been taken to Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital, Tirkey was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
Of them, four men, a woman and a one-and-a-half-year-old child died. A 15-year-old girl and a 45-year-old man are being treated for burns while a 22-year-old man was discharged after first aid.
According to the police, it was learnt that a burning mosquito coil had tipped over on a mattress during the night. The residents lost consciousness due to the toxic fumes before eventually suffocating to death. Further investigation is under way.
The fire department said three tenders were rushed to the spot to contain the blaze.
