Roundup: 9 killed in pharmacy fire in Mumbai

At least nine people, including five children, were killed in a fire at a pharmacy in Mumbai Thursday, a senior police official said.

"The victims, mostly members of the same family, were asleep on the first floor of the building and had been trapped when the fire broke out around 6 a.m. (local time) in the medical store on the ground floor and quickly engulfed the building in Andheri," he said on condition of anonymity.

While eight charred bodies, including that of a few months old baby, were recovered by rescuers and firefighters, one injured person sustained to his injuries in the hospital later in the day, the official said.

Local TV channels reported, quoting eye-witnesses and officials, that the blaze started because of a short-circuit or could also be the result of a cooking cylinder blast.

Some reports also said that a fireman sustained injuries while dousing the flames.

"We suspect that the electric wiring and other power installations in the medical store caught fire. However, some local people claimed they heard cooking gas cylinder explosion. A probe has been ordered to ascertain the exact cause of the fire," a senior fire official said.

Fire incidents are common in India because of lack of adherence to safety standards.

And this is the latest deadly fire to hit Mumbai in recent years. In June 2015, seven people were killed in a fire at a highrise apartment and in October the same year, eight people were killed in a gas cylinder blast at a restaurant. Endit