A 35-year-old woman was charred to death in a fire at a shop in Shamli district in the early hours of Friday, police said.

The incident happened in Bhasani Islampur village around 2 am, Thana Bhawan Station House Officer Anil Kumar said.

The victim, Farida, was sleeping in the shop while her husband, Sajid, was in the upper storey when the fire broke out, he said, adding that the man had been detained for questioning.

Villagers tried to douse the fire, the police said, adding that the body was sent for autopsy.

Sajid claimed that the fire broke out in his grocery shop due to an electrical short-circuit, according to the police.

Meanwhile, in a heart-wrenching incident in Amethi, two people who were out on morning walk were killed after being hit by some vehicle on Friday morning.

While one died on the spot, the other died during treatment in the hospital.

On Thursday, three morning walkers had died after being run over by a speeding truck in Ghazipur district.

The incident took place in Kasthuni West Highway of Musafirkhana Kotwali area in Amethi. According to the reports, Hausila Prasad Yadav, a resident of Pooramura Majre in Kasthuni West, and Krishna Kumar alias Lallu, a resident of Kutti Majre, went out for a morning walk together on Friday morning. On the Lucknow-Varanasi National Highway, near the Gosain Mandir Mathia, a speeding container going towards Lucknow suddenly hit them. Both fell on the road and the container ran over them. The accused driver fled with his vehicle.

Some distance away, Hausila's son Ashok was also walking.

Seeing the accident, he raised an alarm after which the local people ran and shifted both the victims to hospital where one of them was pronounced dead upon arrival while the other one died a few minutes later in the hospital.

Hausila was running a tea shop while Krishna Kumar was in the grocery business. Local police sent both bodies for autopsy and were making efforts to nab the driver.