New Delhi, Jan 27 (IANS): A pall of gloom descended upon two families on Saturday as they lost four of their members, including a nine-month-old girl, in a fire incident at a residential building in Delhi's Shahdara area on Friday.

Satya Mishra, residing on the fourth floor of the building, said that he was at Mansarovar Park DDA flats when the incident occurred.

"I received a call from my neighbours around 5 p.m. informing me about a fire incident in our building. Upon rushing back, I found that the fire had spread to the ground floor, and everyone was trying to extinguish the blaze. The building was filled with a significant amount of smoke at that time," Mishra said.

Four persons, including a nine-month-old infant, were killed while two others sustained burn injuries after they got trapped in a building which caught fire on Friday.

The deceased have been identified as Gauri Soni (40) and her son Pratham Soni (17), Rachna (28) and her daughter Ruhi (nine months).

The injured have been identified as Radhika (16) and Prabhawati (70).

The Director of Delhi Fire Service (DFS), Atul Garg, said that a call regarding a blaze at a building in the Shahdara area was received at 5.23 p.m.

"A total of five fire tenders were rushed to the spot," said Garg.

"At 6.55 p.m., the flames were doused. The fire broke out in a wiper, rubber and cutting machine on the ground floor. The building comprises ground plus four floors and the area is about 50 sq yards," said Garg.

"I typically return to my residence at approximately 9 p.m. However, on Friday, I arrived home prematurely, around 6 p.m., and observed that a conflagration erupted within our edifice. I did not receive any communication from anyone," said Rachana's husband Vinod, who is employed within a footwear printing factory.

"Subsequently, I hastened to the medical facility and found that my infant daughter and wife, both of them had been declared brought dead. We used to reside in the second storey of the structure," said Vinod.

Gauri and her son Pratham living in another house on the third floor also died in the incident, while Gauri's child survived.

Yogesh Soni, Gauri's brother-in-law, said: "There existed a storage facility for rubber utilised in wiper production on the ground floor. We were informed that someone left a cigarette following smoking, and the foam from the wipers ignited. However, the definitive cause will be determined post an investigation.

"My sister-in-law, nephew, and niece occupied the third story. Among them, my sister-in-law and nephew have succumbed, whereas the niece has endured. Evidently, it seems they perished owing to a lack of oxygen. They were unable to depart in time and died on the staircase," Yogesh said.