5 charred to death in Bihar fire accident

Patna, Dec 28 Five children of a family died on Tuesday in Bihar's Banka district after a fire broke out at their house following a leakage in the pipe of an LPG cylinder, the police said.

The incident took place in Rajawar village. The deceased have been identified as Ankush Kumar, Shivani Kumari, Seema Kumari, Soni Kumari and Ansu Kumari.

Senior officials including the district magistrate and the superintendent of police had rushed to the spot along with the firefighters.

Banka Superintendent of Police, Arvind Kumar Gupta said the mishap took place around 6 p.m. at the house of one Ashok Paswan.

"Paswan's wife Sarita Devi was cooking when the leakage appeared in the pipe. Soon, a fire broke out and it spread across the area where the children were present," Gupta told .

Sarita Devi managed to escape to safety but her children were trapped inside. The cylinder, however, did not explode.

"We are taking statements from the victim's family members. The FSL team is also collecting samples from the house to ascertain the actual cause of the incident. The bodies were recovered and sent for post-mortem," Gupta said.