Six killed, 25 huts destroyed in Agra village fire

Agra, May 25 (IANS) Six people were burnt to death and 10 others received serious burn injuries after a fire broke out in a village in Agra district, officials said.

The accident took place around midnight between Saturday and Sunday in Basai Gurjar village in Bah tehsil of Agra district.

Police said that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuiting.

The family of Heera Lal went to sleep around 11 p.m. After about an hour a spark from a power line fell on the thatched hut and it caught fire.

All of them were burnt before villagers could do anything to rescue them. The fire soon spread to other huts, affecting more than a hundred people in the night.

The family of six - Heera Lal, mother Ramwati, wife Babita, daughter Kajal, son Jitin, and a relative - were all caught unawares and died in the fire.

A villager said a dust storm in the evening had snapped the power line.

Fire tenders from Agra rushed to the village around 1 a.m. along with senior police officials, including Senior Superintendent of Police Salabh Mathur, to supervise rescue operations. The condition of a dozen is reported to be serious. At least 25 homes were affected, police said.