Pune: Six-year-old girl killed after food outlet caught fire due to LPG gas leak

Pune: A six-year-old girl was killed in a fire triggered by a gas leak at a small eatery in the Sadashiv Peth area of the city on Saturday, fire brigade officials said.

The blaze broke out at an outlet selling biryani in the Sadashiv Peth area around 10.50 am, an official said.

A family from Uttar Pradesh worked at the eatery and lived with three children in a loft on top of the establishment, he said.

"The fire broke out around 10.50 am. When a team from the fire brigade reached the spot, they were informed that a girl was stuck in the loft," the official said.

The child was rescued and shifted to a hospital, where doctors declared her dead, he said.

Girl suffocated due to smoke

"According to workers at the eatery, those who were in the loft managed to come down when the blaze broke out. While the girl's mother managed to pick up her other two children and come down, she could not lift her daughter because of the fire and smoke," the official said. The girl, identified as Iqra Naeem Khan, had sustained minor burn injuries, but had suffocated due to the smoke, he said.

"Prima-facie, it looks like there was a leak in the LPG cylinder in the kitchen on the ground floor, which triggered the blaze. When we reached the spot, we saw three LPG cylinders at one spot, and one of them had leaked. We immediately took all the cylinders out," the official said.