Six employees of a bakery suffocated to death in a fire at a bakery on Friday morning in Kondhwa, Pune.

The incident occurred at ‘Bakes n Cakes’ shop. The fire brigade officials said the fire broke out at the bakery due to short circuit.

According to the authorities, at that time the six employees were sleeping inside the bakery and died within minutes due to asphyxiation.

Prashant Jagtap, the Pune mayor said, “The bakery owner had locked his shop from outside as a result of which the employees could not rush out when the fire broke out.”

All the victims were from Uttar Pradesh and they used to sleep inside the bakery.

A fire brigade official stated, “We received a call at around 4.45 a.m. today and immediately fire tenders were rushed to the spot. As we reached the spot, we saw smoke emanating from the shutter of the shop, which was locked from outside.”

The bakery is on the ground floor of a nine-story building. The workers slept on the mezzanine floor of the bakery.

He added when they opened the shutter they saw a huge fire inside and they got to know all the workers were trapped.

The fire brigade personnel climbed a staircase inside the shop to reach the victims. The officer said they found the victims in an unconscious situation and they were taken to the Sassoon General hospital, where they were declared brought dead.

The victims have been identified as Shanu Ansari (20), Faeem Ansari (21), Ishad Ansari (26), Zishan Ansari (21), Juned Ansari (25) and Zakir Ansari (24).

An officer at the Kondhwa police station said a case was registered and the investigation is on.