Elderly couple suffocate to death in house fire in Chhattisgarh's Durg district

Durg: An elderly couple allegedly died of suffocation after a fire broke out in their house in Chhattisgarh's Durg district on Friday, police said.

The blaze erupted in a two-storey house in the Housing Board Colony of Bhilai city in the morning, an official said.

Locals noticed smoke emanating from the first floor of the house and informed the police and fire brigade, he said.

"Verghese Cherian (62) and his wife Jauli were found unconscious in a room filled with smoke and were rushed to a hospital where doctors declared them dead," the official said.

Prime facie, it appears that the couple died of asphyxiation as no burn marks were found on the bodies, he said.

The couple's family members live in another city, while tenants residing on the ground floor of the house were away, the official said.

A case has been registered in the connection, and the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, he added.