SURAT: Five members of a family, including four women and a four-year-old child, died after a fire broke out in a residential building in the Limbayat area of Surat on Tuesday morning, officials said.
The incident was reported at around 11 a.m. in the Mithi Khadi locality, where a ground-plus-two-storey house caught fire.
According to initial information, the blaze is believed to have started on the ground floor while cooking was underway, possibly due to a gas leak, and spread rapidly through the premises.
Fire brigade teams reached the spot shortly after being alerted and carried out rescue operations.
All five occupants were found unconscious inside the house and were taken to a government hospital in Surat, where doctors declared them dead.
The deceased have been identified as Shehnaz Begum Ansari (65), Husa Begum Ansari (18), Shabina Ramzan Ansari (28), Parveen Abdul Kalam Ansari (19), and Subhan Ramzan Ansari (4).