Rooftop restaurant fire kills at least 15

MUMBAI - At least 15 people were killed when a huge blaze tore through a popular restaurant in Mumbai early on Friday, police said, in the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India.

Many of the victims were young women who were attending a birthday party on the rooftop when the fire broke out. Doctors said they died of asphyxiation, apparently as they tried to flee the burning building.

Television footage of the latest disaster showed fire engines and emergency teams rushing to the scene as the building in the city's Kamala Mills compound was being consumed by flames and dark plumes of smoke rose into the night sky.