Chennai, Sep 12 : Two women lost their lives after a fire broke out at a working women's hostel in Katarapalayam near Periyar bus stand in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. The incident occurred on Thursday morning.

Five others have been injured and are admitted to Government Rajaji Hospital.

The deceased women are identified as Parimala and Saranya.

Police said that the fire in the hostel led to excessive smoke and both women died by suffocation.

Police said that the fire was due to a refrigerator in the kitchen that blasted but added that there would be a detailed investigation into the reason for the blast.

The postmortem of the bodies of the deceased women will be conducted at Government Rajajji Hospital.

Madurai MP and CPI-M leader, Su Venkitesan expressed shock at the tragic incident at the women's hostel leading to the death of two women and injuries to five others.

A large number of people have reached Rajaji Hospital where the bodies of the deceased are kept.

M. Kannadas, a social activist based out of Madurai, while speaking with IANS, called upon the district administration to conduct a detailed investigation into the accident. He said: 'It has to be properly probed whether the electrical circuits were in place and whether a short circuit was the reason for the blast.'

He also said that all the angles to the fire accident must be investigated and called upon the Madurai municipality to ascertain whether the hostel had all required licences.

/IANS