India, July 28 -- A 42-year woman allegedly died of suffocation after a fire broke out in a two-storey house in northeast Delhi's Usmanpur area early Sunday, police said, adding that a short circuit is believed to be the reason but the exact cause will be ascertained after a forensic report.

The deceased, identified as Anju Jain, could not escape after thick smoke engulfed upper floors of the building. But five other residents of the house -- her daughter, aged 18, and four others of a tenant family living on the first floor, however, fled to safety using a ladder from the rooftop to a neighbour's house, police added.

The fire started around 6.45am on the ground floor of the rented building, located in Bhagat Singh Colony. Jain lived wi...