7 Of Family Burnt Alive As Shanty Catches Fire

Ludhiana, April 20 : Seven members of a family, including a couple and their five children were burnt alive in a fire that broke out in their shanty near Tajpur dump in this industrial town on Wednesday morning. The deceased have been identified as Suresh (54), his wife Raur Devi (50) and their children Rakhi (15), Manisha (10), Chanda (8), Geeta (6) and Sunny (2). Police said the migrant family earned their livelihood from rag picking. The incident took place at around 0200 hours in the morning when the family was sleeping in the shanty near the municipal garbage dump yard on Tibba road here. The family did not get a chance to escape as fire quickly spread due to storage of huge stock of rags, plastic and junk material inside the shanty, police added. The exact cause of the fire had not yet been established