The incident occurred around 12.30 pm, when three workers were working in the ironing unit of Finesse International Design Pvt Ltd.

The police said the blaze started after a water boiler burst due to a reaction with a solvent lying on the floor. The building was damaged and its plastic roof was burnt in the fire. “As the material near the victims was flammable, they received serious burn injuries,” Naresh Sharma, senior sub-inspector, sector-20 police station, said. The company manager, however, denied that the blaze started because of the boiler bursting.

“The fire was caused by a short circuit,” Darpan Tiwari, the manager at Finesse, said.

‘Hari Babu, a resident of Kanpur living in Sangam Vihar here for the last 15 years, was declared dead on arrival by doctors at Kailash Hospital. Naresh, who was ironing clothes along with Hari, was admitted to Vinayak Hospital in a critical condition.

Kamlesh, the third worker, was admitted to Max Hospital.