Fire in Delhi's Hauz Khas area, one dead

A man died and a French woman was injured in a fire that broke out in a house in south Delhi's Hauz Khas area on Wednesday, police said.

The fire on the roof of a house was reported by a neighbour around 5.45 a.m. It was doused within an hour but fire fighters found a 36-year-old man dead and a 24-year-old woman injured inside the house.

The deceased has been identified as Gaurav Taneja, police said.

A senior police officer told IANS: "He died due to suffocation while Anklora, who is from France, got injured in the fire incident."

"Anklora was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital in semi-conscious condition," the officer added.

According to the police officer, the fire erupted in the house due to an electrical short-circuit.

"Three fire tenders were rushed to the spot. A shed at the top of the house caught fire," a fire official told IANS.

The neighbour who reported the fire said the residents tried to douse the fire by using fire extinguishers and throwing water over the blaze.

"Before the fire tenders arrived, we tried to control the fire using whatever resources we had," a neighbour said.

An official from the fire department said the fire was bought under control by 6.50 a.m.

--IANS

aks/pgh/dg