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Pune: A 75-year-old woman died of suffocation after a fire broke out in a three-storey building at Shivtej Chowk in Alandi late on Monday night. Firefighters from Alandi Municipal Council fire brigade rescued another elderly woman and a few other residents who were trapped on the building’s third floor.
Shakuntala Dhadiwal (75) was found lying unconscious on the stairs on the second floor. “She had sustained burn injuries and had suffocated due to the smoke.
The firefighters rescued the residents, who were stuck on the third floor,” an officer from the fire brigade said. Prima facie, a short circuit appears to have caused the fire,” the officer said. The three-storey building houses a ready-made garment store. A large number of cardboard boxes were stored on the building’s first floor. “The building had limited doors and windows, causing smoke to accumulate. Doctors pronounced her dead after she was taken to a hospital.