Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, May 6: In a tragic fire incident, three members of a family were charred to death in border district of Kathua late last night.
A fire broke out in the house of Sudesh Kumar, son of Uttam Chand at around 1 a.m. in village Koota of Kathua district when the family was fast asleep, a police officer said.
In the blaze, three members of the family died and two others got burn injuries.
The cause of fire was stated to be the short circuit of the AC stabilizer which was placed over the Godrej wardrobe on which clothes were also kept. The three family members including Sudesh Kumar, 42, his wife Archana Devi,32 and their 18 month old daughter Siddhi who were in fast asleep were charred to death after the electric gadgets caught fire and the AC got blasted.
The police officer said that the family members died due to suffocation and blast of AC and later they were charred into the fire also which spread in the entire house.
All the electric gadgets including refrigerator, TV and cooler were damaged in fire.
Soon after coming to know of the incident a police party led by SDPO Border, M L Kaith and SHO, Hiranagar rushed to the spot. The fire tenders from Kathua and Samba were also pressed into service to douse the fire.
All the three bodies were shifted by Police to Sub District Hospital Hirangar for postmortem and later handed over to the family for cremation this afternoon. The police has started inquisite proceedings under Section 174.
Sudesh’s father and his son escaped narrowly with burn injuries as they were sleeping in another room of the house.
In another incident, 38-year-old Champa Devi wife of Dharam Paul of Riyal in Samba district died when she dozed kerosene oil over her after a tiff with her family members early this morning. She was rushed to Bishnah Hospital in a serious condition where she succumbed to her injuries.
It may be recalled that during last over one month standing wheat crop spreading over hundreds kanals of land, hundreds of wheat bundles and temporary structures of nomadic Gujjars and migrant laborers were destroyed in the fire that was caused due to short circuit in two border districts of Samba and Kathua.
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