Dharashiv (Maharashtra), November 9: Six members of one family died after a fire broke out on Diwali night in Yedshi village of Dharashiv district in Maharashtra and spread through the house where they were sleeping, local police confirmed on Monday, according to Xinhua reporting carried by Qazinform News Agency. The six died of asphyxiation as the fire spread inside the house, the report said.

Source: Xinhua via Qazinform

Local Hindi reporting gives the sequence: the family lived on the floor above its ground-floor grocery (kirana) shop in Yedshi. The fire broke out at around 2:30 a.m., and rescue teams pulled one person out alive, while six members of the family could not be saved. Four of the victims were declared dead before they could reach the government hospital in Dharashiv, according to medical officers cited in that reporting.

Source: Sandhya Samay News

Who the victims were

Azad Sipahi's report from Yedshi identifies the householder as Govind Karande and says the dead were Karande, his wife, their two daughters and his elderly parents; a child of the family managed to escape. These family details come from local reporting at the scene and had not been issued as a formal police list at the time of publishing.

Source: Azad Sipahi

Cause not confirmed — a lamp is only a suspicion

Early local reports suspect that a clay lamp (diya) lit for Diwali may have started the fire. That is a preliminary suspicion only: police and the local administration have NOT confirmed the cause, and officials say the real reason will be known only after the investigation. Xinhua's police-sourced report likewise said the cause had not been determined.

Source: Xinhua via Qazinform

Local MLA Rana Jagjitsinh Patil reached the spot at around 4:20 a.m. after being informed of the tragedy, according to Azad Sipahi. ABP Live reported more than 70 fire incidents across Maharashtra through the Diwali night, of which the Yedshi house fire was the deadliest.

Source: ABP Live

Third family wiped out in one night of fires

The Dharashiv deaths were the third such family tragedy in a single night. In Madhya Pradesh, six members of a family died in a house fire in Chhapara, Seoni district, and six more — including a two-month-old infant — died when a fire spread from a shop in Barhi, Katni district, taking the Diwali-night toll in the three incidents to 18, police confirmed. Awaaz Punjab has reported the two Madhya Pradesh incidents separately.

Source: Xinhua via Qazinform

The Seoni incident, in the Chhapara area, killed six members of a bullion trader's family in the early hours of Monday. Read: Six killed in Seoni house fire

In Katni's Barhi town, the fire began in a ground-floor shop and trapped the family living above it — the same pattern as Yedshi. Read: Six of a family killed in Katni shop fire

What happens next: Dharashiv police and the district administration are investigating the Yedshi fire, and a formal list of the victims and the confirmed cause are awaited. This report will be updated when officials issue them.