Kanpur: A massive fire ripped through a four-storey residential-commercial building in Kanpur on Sunday night, claiming the lives of five members of a single family. The deceased include a couple and their three daughters, who were trapped on the upper floor and could not be rescued in time.
The blaze began around 8 p.m. on the first floor of the building located in the Prem Nagar locality under Chaman Ganj police jurisdiction. The lower two floors housed a footwear manufacturing unit, while the top floors were occupied by the owner’s family.
Eyewitnesses reported that the fire spread rapidly, fuelled by chemicals, gas cylinders, and air conditioners that exploded one after another, creating panic in the densely populated neighbourhood. The intensity of the flames forced authorities to evacuate nearby buildings and cut off the electricity supply across the block.
As the fire escalated, more than 20 fire tenders arrived on the scene. Despite the scale of the emergency, it took hours to bring the flames under control. Around 1:30 a.m., rescue teams from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were deployed from Lucknow to support operations.
Firefighters managed to rescue four people stranded on the third floor, but efforts to reach the family trapped on the fourth floor proved futile. After nearly seven hours of continuous rescue operations, five charred bodies were recovered at around 3 a.m. The tragic image of a daughter clinging to her mother’s body moved even seasoned fire personnel to tears.
Authorities have stated that a short circuit is the likely cause of the fire, though a formal investigation is underway.
The incident has left the local community in shock, highlighting serious concerns about fire safety in mixed-use buildings that house both industrial operations and residences without adequate safety protocols.
