Four people, including an infant, died of suffocation and two were injured when a massive fire broke out in a house on the ground floor of a multi-storey building in New Delhi’s Shahdara area on Friday.

Fire officials said that a fire was reported in a house in Shahdara area at 5:22 pm.

“Five fire tenders were pressed into service and the fire was brought under control by 6:55 pm. Delhi Fire Service (DFS) chief Atul Garg said the fire broke out in a house storing rubber materials like wipers and rubber cutting machines on the ground floor of the building.

Police and fire officials rescued six people from the building and rushed them to GTB hospital, he said.

A senior police officer said that after receiving information about the fire in the building, policemen reached the spot and with the help of local people managed to save three people. He was taken to the hospital in a PCR van, he said.

Fire officials reached the spot and rescued three more people, including a child. Those who were rescued were semi-conscious and were taken to GTB Hospital, where doctors declared four of them brought dead, he said.

Two women aged 28 and 40, a nine-month-old girl and a 17-year-old boy died of suffocation. According to the police, a 16-year-old girl and a 70-year-old woman are undergoing treatment.

The building has four floors with one staircase. Legal action has been initiated against building owner Bharat Singh. He had kept the ground and first floor for himself and had given the remaining two floors on rent. Further investigation into the matter is underway,” the officer said.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)