Three young women in the age group of 19-22 died when a fire broke out at a house in Sector 32 Chandigarh, on Saturday.
The women were staying as paying guests on the first floor of the building, officials said.
Two of the three girls who died, are from Punjab and one from Haryana. Another two girls who jumped from the PG's roof are injured and admitted in the local hospital.
Sector 34 Police Station In-charge, Inspector Baldev Kumar said that around 34 students were living on rented accommodation in the House located in Sector 32 D, Chandigarh. At the time of the incident, most of the students were out of the House. Five students were present in the building when fire broke out.
The SHO said three girls were killed in the fire incident and the two who jumped from the building are seriously injured. The deceased have been identified as Muskan, resident of Hisar, Haryana; Riya, resident of Kapurthala, Punjab and Prakshi, resident of Kotkapura. The injured students have been identified as Famina and Jasmine.
The SHO said that as per preliminary examination, fire broke out due to an electric spark. "A team has been formed and they have started investigating the incident. FIR will be lodged against House owner,” he added.
Fire Service Officer of Sector 17, Lal Bahadur Gautam said that four fire tenders were pressed into service to bring the flame under control. It took nearly 15-20 minutes to put out the blaze.
"Fire broke out at around 4 pm and fire department was informed about the incident at the same time. The police rushed to the spot after the fatal fire broke out at the PG. Fire officers after reaching the incident site acted swiftly and stopped the flames from spreading further," the Fire Officer said.
Initially two fire tenders were sent but as the flame was intense, two more tenders were called. "It took around 15-20 minutes to put out the blaze," Gautam said, adding that initially they faced difficulty as smoke engulfed the entire place. "We ensured that the flame did not spread to the neighbouring houses.” he added.
