KOLKATA, April. 4: Two persons died at SSKM Hospital this morning, after sustaining severe burn injuries in a fire that broke out last night at their house near Salkia in Howrah. Three of their family members were also injured in the fire and are battling for their lives in the same hospital. The deceased are Prabir Lahori (50) and his sister-in-law, Sanchaita Lahori (40). The three other family members ~ Mr Purno Lahori, Mrs Chaitali Lahori and Ms Debolina Lahori ~ are in critical condition. Police said the fire broke out at the kitchen while Sanchaita was cooking. Within minutes, the fire spread to other rooms that were packed with kerosene containers. Local people rushed to the house after they heard an explosion. The fire quickly spread to two first floor rooms, where Ms Debolina Lahori was studying and her uncle Prabir Lahori was sleeping. Local people rescued Sanchaita Lahori and Mrs Chaitali Lahori. They rushed all the members of the family to Howrah General Hospital. Later, they were shifted to SSKM Hospital where Sanchaita and Prabir succumbed. Mr Prafulla Kumar Dutta, divisional officer of the fire and emergency services department, Howrah, said Prabir used to sell kerosene from their house and most of the rooms of the house were packed with kerosene containers. “Initially, people believed that the fire was caused by the explosion of an LPG cylinder. We've found this was not the case, and are still ascertaining the real cause behind the fire. We will also check whether the family had permission to sell kerosene from their house,” the officer said.

Seven of the 17 industry groups that the IIP tracks showed negative growth in October against just one a year ago.

Leather and leather products saw the sharpest decline of 18.1 per cent, followed by wood and wood products (-14.4 per cent) and cotton textiles (-9.6 per cent).

Seven other industry groups showed positive growth in October 2008 compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.

The industry group “other manufacturing industries” has shown the highest growth of 11 per cent followed by 7.5 per cent in beverages, tobacco and related products and 5.4 per cent in paper and paper products and printing, publishing and allied industries.