New Delhi, December 18: Two minor brothers were killed in a fire at a footwear sole storeroom in southwest Delhi's Sagarpur area on Friday, officials said. The deceased have been identified as Aayush (5) and Shriansh (6), whose father deals in footwear sole and had stored the material in a room at their rented accommodation, they said.

Police suspects that an electric short-circuit triggered the fire. A call about the fire was received at 2.44 pm after which three fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a fire official said. According to the Delhi Fire Services, the fire was doused by 4 pm.

The brothers were rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared them dead on arrival, Delhi Fire Services Director Atul Garg said. A senior police officer said that as per doctors, it appears that the two children choked to death due to smoke. Fire Breaks Out at Hyderabad Factory, Several Injured, Many Feared Trapped.

The bodies will be handed over to the family after post-mortem on Saturday.

Local police and a team of the Forensic Science Laboratory visited the spot to ascertain the cause of the fire. According to the police, the family of the deceased moved to the ground floor house on December 1. Those living on other floors of the building were rescued by the police with the help of some locals.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)