Four family members of a hotel owner and a domestic helper were charred to death in a major fire in his house here today. The police said that the fire broke out early in the morning when the family members were asleep and residents in the neighborhood informed the police and the fire brigade after noticing thick smoke billowing out of the building.
On the behalf of reports the Police said that Deputy fire officer Ramesh Chandra Majhi said the fire brigade team rescued six persons from the fire-engulfed house of Satpal Singh, businessman and owner of a well-known hotel here, and sent them to hospital. Dr C R Das, Director of the Capital hospital in Bhubaneswar that five of them had sustained critical burns were declared brought dead in the hospital. While four of the deceased were family members of the house owner, another was a woman employee, adding that post-mortem on the bodies were conducted.
Another member of the family was undergoing treatment at the hospital and his condition was stated to be stable. Majhi said that the fire appeared to have spread rapidly apparently due to woodworks in the building. While electric short circuit was suspected to be the reason behind the mishap, the exact cause would be ascertained after a through probe .The police said that the deceased were identified as Singh’s younger son, daughter-in-law, grand daughter, grandson and house maid.
