An elderly woman and her three granddaughters died due to asphyxiation in a freak fire accident allegedly triggered by a mosquito repellent machine in their house at Mathur MMDA near Manali here, police said on Saturday.

The woman identified as Santhanalakshmi, 65, and her granddaughters -- Sandhya, Priya Rakshita and Pavithra, aged between 8 and 10 years -- were sleeping in their house when the fire broke out. Their neighbours, who noticed smoke billowing out from the house this morning, informed the police and fire and rescue service personnel, said police.

Upon their arrival, the police found all four persons unconscious and immediately rushed them to a hospital where the doctors declared them "brought dead".

Preliminary inquiries by the police reveal that the mosquito repellent machine kept in the room where the family members were sleeping fell on some nylon material triggering a fire. The family members would have inhaled the smoke in their sleep and died, a senior police official said.

The three children went to their grandmother's house to spend the night as their mother had to visit a hospital to take care of their father.

The Madhavaram Milk Colony police have registered a case.

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