14 killed in India building fire

A fire at a building housing a library and a coaching centre for college students in India's Lucknow killed at least 14 people on Monday, officials said.

The fire in Lucknow, the capital city of northern Uttar Pradesh state, started from the middle floor of the three-storey commercial building located in a residential area and soon spread to other levels.

"Fourteen children from happy families were killed in the incident," the state's deputy chief minister, Brajesh Pathak, told reporters, adding four others were injured in the blaze.

It was not clear whether all of the dead were students.

Multiple students jumped from the upper level of the building onto the street below to escape the flames, witnesses told an AFP reporter