Four people died and another seriously injured after a fire broke out in Prome, Pegu Division, in the early hours of Tuesday.

The victims were identified as: Nwe Nwe Win, 35; Ma Sandi, 20; Shwe Zin Htet Myat, 11; and Yati, aged 7. They were reportedly locked in their apartment at the time.

“Two adults and two minors were killed in the incident. They were not burned, but died of smoke inhalation,” said Win Nyunt of the Fire Services Department in Prome, which is officially known as Pyay.

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A fifth person escaped the flames by from jumping from a window, and was taken to Prome Hospital with injuries sustained in the fall.

“The rescuers yelled ‘Jump! Jump!’, so she did, and she hit herself on a concrete block. Her legs were aflame and there was fire spewing out of the windows,” said Kyaw Oo, who lives in the neighbourhood.

“The bodies of the four people who died are being carried out right now,” he told DVB from the scene.

The blaze, which consumed a private computing school and a teashop, is believed to have been started by a kitchen stove. This was the fifth fire in Prome since the beginning of the month.