India, March 1 -- A tourist from Maharashtra was charred to death after a fire broke out in a hotel room in the Kachi Ghati area of Shimla, police said on Saturday.

Ritesh Pudale, 24, who belonged to Sangli district of Maharashtra, was sleeping in the room on the first floor of the hotel when the fire broke out around 11pm on Friday. Two of his friends, Ashish and Avdhoot Patil, who were also asleep in the room, managed to run out in time and were hospitalised with burns, the police said.

The cause of the fire is being ascertained, they said.

The hotel management informed the fire department that brought the blaze under control. The police recovered the body of Ritesh that was sent to the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital for ...