Ahead of LS polls, at least three people were killed and 15 injured after fire erupted at three buildings of hotels near Patna railway station on Thursday. No body knows the cause of the fire.

Officials said that a body was recovered from Hotel Pal, while the bodies of a mother and daughter were recovered Hotel Amit. The fire started from Pal hotel and soon spread to nearby Amit hotel and other buildings. 

The fire brigade official is quoted saying the casualty could go up. Several vehicles, including four-wheelers, two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws, were also gutted in the fire, which spread fast due to strong winds. 

The fire was eventually controlled after 7-8 fire tenders worked for over two hours. Upon receiving the information, fire tenders rushed to the spot and started dousing the fire. 

The fire extinguishing operation is still underway. In an unrelated fire incident, a 70-year-old man died of burn injuries after a fire broke out at a grocery shop in Mumbai, PTI quoted the officials as saying. 

The blaze was reported at 11.54 pm on Wednesday at the single-storey shop located in a chawl (row tenement) at Jai Bhavani Nagar in Antop Hill area, a civic official said. 

The victim, Pannalal Vaishya, was stranded on the upper section of the shop, he said. Members of the public told the fire brigade personnel that before their arrival at the spot, two cylinder blasts occurred on the upper floor of the structure, he said. 

The blaze was confined to electric wiring and installations, household articles and grocery materials on the ground and upper floors of the structure. The fire brigade doused the blaze within 20 minutes, the official said. 

Next, Vaishya was rescued and rushed to the nearby Sion Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. He had suffered 100 per cent burn injuries, the official said. The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.