5 of family killed in multi-storey building fire in India's Uttar Pradesh

NEW DELHI, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Five members of a family were killed early Monday in a major fire that broke out inside a multi-storey building in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said.

The fire broke out in the five-storey residential-cum-commercial building on Sunday night in Chaman Ganj area of Kanpur Nagar district, about 93 km west of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh.

According to officials, the building also housed shoe manufacturing units on its first and second floors.

Police identified the victims as a couple and their three minor daughters.

Preliminary investigations suggest that a short circuit might have caused the fire.

"Initial investigations point towards a possible short circuit or faults in the internal wiring, potentially originating from the floors where the shoe factory was operating," Manjay Singh, a senior police official, told media.

"The fire triggered blasts in a couple of domestic liquefied petroleum gas cylinders that worsened the situation." ■