Fire guts home of four families, woman killed

A police officer said the house in Champhai’s Venglai neighbourhood caught fire apparently from a coal lantern one family used to heat rooms during the chilly winter evening.

The families live in separate flats within the tin-roofed wooden house, and all the others were able to escape without major injuries.

They were however unable to salvage most of their belongings, which were consumed by the blaze before fire tenders and neighbours could put it out.