Three persons including a woman on Monday died due to suffocation after a fire broke out in Korba town.
The fire incident occurred at around 1.30 pm in a garments shop in the double-storied commercial complex located at Transport Nagar area in the city, Korba Additional Superintendent of Police Abbhishek Verma said.
After being alerted, the fire extinguishers along with the rescue team of police, home guard and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) launched a rescue operation.
The team doused the flames within half-an-hour and rescued 20 people from the complex.
Three of them died due to suffocation and smoke inhalation while 17 others were rushed to hospital and they were said to be stable.
The deceased were yet to be identified.