Seven persons, including two children, died of suffocation after a fire broke out in a tailoring shop in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city early Wednesday morning, a senior police official said.

The blaze erupted at around 4 am in the shop located at Dana Bazar in Cantonment area.

 The tailoring shop and other commercial establishments were located on the ground floor of a building while people were residing on the upper floor, the official said.

“The shop suddenly caught fire at around 4 am. The police came to know about the incident at 4.15 am. Following the fire, smoke entered the first floor where a family was residing above the shop. Seven casualties have occurred due to suffocation,” Police Commissioner Manoj Lohiya told reporters.

 The deceased included three women, two men and two children, he said.

The exact cause of the fire would be known after an inquiry, he added.  The deceased have been identified as Asim Shaikh (3), Pari Shaikh (2), Wasim Shaikh (30), Tanveer Shaikh (23), Hamida Begum (50), Shaikh Sohail (35) and Reshma Shaikh (22), another official said