Dewas: An entire family of four members, among them two children, were killed in a fire that broke out at a milk parlour-cum-house in Madhya Pradesh's Dewas district in the early hours of Saturday, police said. The blaze erupted on the premises in the Nayapura area around 4.45 am, an official said.
The deceased have been identified as Dinesh Carpenter (35), his wife Gayatri Carpenter (30) and their children Ishika (10) and Chirag (7).
According to eyewitnesses, the fire broke out in a three-storey house in the Nayapura area and soon took a monstrous form. The cylinder kept at home also blasted. People nearby woke up to the sound of the explosion and immediately informed the fire brigade.
"We received information about a fire in a milk parlour in Nayapura, and a family was living in the same premises," Nahar Darwaja police station in-charge Manju Yadav said. She said the victims, a couple and their two children, died of suffocation and burn injuries. A team from the fire brigade rushed to the spot and brought the blaze under control after more than three hours of effort, the official added.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Puneet Gehlot said Dinesh owned a dairy on the ground floor of the building and lived with his family on the second floor.