A major fire that engulfed a restaurant and hotel in Patna, the capital of Bihar state in eastern India on Thursday killed at least six people and injured 20, according to a local fire officer. The fire began when a cooking gas cylinder exploded while diners were eating in the restaurant, and it quickly spread into an adjacent hotel, said Satya Prakash, the officer. At least 40 people were rescued from the two buildings by firefighters who extinguished the blaze using more than a dozen fire engines, Prakash said. The hotel is located in a congested area next to Patna’s railroad station. Several vehicles parked at the hotel were destroyed in the fire, Prakash said. He added that some guests in the hotel jumped from their room windows and were injured. Other details were not immediately available. Fires are common in India, where builders and residents often disregard building laws and safety codes. In 2019, an electrical short circuit caused a fire in a building in the Indian capital that killed 43 people. In 2022, a fire in a four-story commercial building in New Delhi killed at least 27.