Bhubaneswar, July 31: A fire apparently caused by a cooking gas leak at Indirapali in Rourkela seriously injured four members of a family this morning.

The four injured are Suresh Tripathy, 28, his wife Suchitra, 26, and their daughters Swati, 7, and Sruti, 5. All of them have severe burns. The incident took place around 11.30am.

On hearing them screaming, neighbours rushed in to find the four with severe burns. The local people then rushed them to the burn care centre at Ispat General Hospital of the Rourkela Steel Plant.

No one is sure how the fire caught. The neighbours suspected that it was probably the outcome of a gas leak. The cylinder is said to have been replaced the day before.

Suresh's mother said she was not at home when the accident took place.

"I do not know what really happened and how they came in contact with the fire as I was outside and just a little away from home," she said.

"I went running when I heard them calling for help and found them engulfed in flames screaming," said a neighbour.

A police team came to the spot, along with a scientific team for inspection. Tangarpali inspector-in-charge Manoranjan Pradhan said: "This is too early to comment. Nothing can be said or even guessed. We are keeping our fingers crossed, because there are no eyewitnesses."

Ispat General Hospital sources said the conditions of the mother and the two children were critical, because they had suffered more than 70 per cent burns and their vital organs had been affected.