Two persons were charred to death today when a fire broke out at a tea shop inside the central bus stand premises here, police said.
The shop owner was fixing a new gas cylinder connection to the stove at 6.30 AM when gas leaked and a fire broke out and spread to another adjacent shop, police said.
The owners of both shops died in the fire.
Even as panic-stricken people ran to safety, fire force department personnel extinguished the blaze and recovered the bodies.
The shops were gutted.
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The district magistrate said the fire was extinguished
by the villagers themselves and the cause of the blaze was being investigated.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed profound grief over the tragedy and directed the district magistrate and the superintendent of police to camp at the village for expeditious rescue and relief work.
Kumar directed the district administration to provide the ex-gratia compensation to the kin of the victims.
The DM said the victims were being identified for the purpose.
Magadh division commissioner Liam Kunga and the Magadh Range DIG Saurabh Kumar also visited the affected village and took stock of the situation.
