Hyderabad, May 19 -- Seventeen members of a family, including eight children aged between one-and-a-half and seven years, were killed and four others injured after a fire broke out in a three-storey building near the iconic Charminar in Hyderabad on Sunday morning, officials aware of the matter said. The building, located in a narrow alley in the Gulzar House area - part of Hyderabad's Old City- housed two jewellery shops on the ground floor and residences on the first and second floors, the officials added. They said that the fire broke out in one of the shops, Krishna Pearls, at around 6.15am due to a short circuit, and quickly spread. The ground floor was empty at the time of the incident, but there were 21 people on the other two floors, according to officials. "We received a call at around 6.16am and immediately dispatched 11 fire engines with sufficient staff. According to information, 17 people could not survive. The deaths were due to asphyxiation. Preliminary examination shows that the cause of the fire was a short circuit," director general of fire services Y Nagi Reddy said. Four other occupants of the building survived with minor injuries, officials said. The structure and the shop in which the fire broke out were owned by 70-year-old Prahlad Aggarwal, who was among the deceased. His family members lived on the building's upper floors and at the time of the incident, their relatives from other parts of the city were visiting. Nagi Reddy added that wooden planks stored in one of the shops caught fire, which worsened the blaze. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official said that an AC compressor also exploded due to the fire, resulting in a blaze engulfing the entire building. The fire was brought under control by 9am. "It was impossible to get into the building as it was completely covered in flames. A thick plume of smoke was billowing from the staircase, which prevented us from reaching the victims," said Mohd Zahid, a local shopkeeper and one of the first people to reach the spot. Fire department officials said that a lone, narrow staircase was the only escape route for the occupants of the upper floors, but they could not rush out amid the blaze and smoke. "The building has only one entryway of two metres. There is only one staircase of one metre width to access the first and second floors. The staircase is close to the sport where the short circuit took place, due to which it was completely filled with smoke and excessive heat, making it difficult for those staying to exit," Nagi Reddy said. He added that the entry to the building was blocked by bikes, which hampered the rescue efforts. The family members of the victims raised questions on the efficiency of the rescue operation. "The ambulances came very late. A six-year-old girl could have been saved if the ambulance came on time. What is the government doing?" a relative of a victim said on condition of anonymity at the Osmania General Hospital. State minister Ponnam Prabhakar said the government will soon order an inquiry into the incident. Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy expressed sorrow over the incident and said he has directed officials "to provide the best possible medical treatment to the injured". Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives and ordered ex gratia for the injured and families of the deceased. "PMNRF will provide Rs.2 lakh ex-gratia to kin of deceased, Rs.50,000 to injured," the Prime Minister's Office quoted him as saying in a post on X. The state government also announced a compensation of Rs.5 lakh to the families of the victims. Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi expressed grief over the incident and said: "The family had been living in this area for 125 years. All 17 of the deceased were immediate family members. It is a matter of great sorrow... I offer my condolences."...