New Delhi, Mar 18: Nine people, including five children and a woman, were killed and three injured in a major fire that devastated a slum cluster near the Red Fort here early this morning. The blaze, which erupted from a jhuggi at around 0245 hours, spread fast engulfing 500 hutment in Sanjay Amar colony, police sources said. The five children, who perished in their sleep were identified as Parvati (nine months), Guriya (8 yrs), Qurban Ali (10), Jumna (10) and Tinto (12) while the others were Hamila Beevi (55), Ram Kishan (25), Mehmood (25) and Ulfat (35), they said. More than 30 fire tenders were pressed into service to put out the blaze, the sources said. The cause of the fire, which could be brought under control only after 0500 hrs, is not yet known.

Bureau Report