Bengaluru (DHNS): A six-year-old boy and his three-year-old sister were charred to death in a fire that broke out due to an electric short circuit in their house in Adugodi police limits on Monday evening.
Naveen Kumar and Kanishka Rani, children of Manjunath, a goods auto driver and Sathya, a homemaker, died in a sleeping position on a cot at their third floor house at the Economically Weaker Section quarters at Lakshman Rao Nagar, police said.
Sathya, who fell unconscious after seeing the charred bodies of her children, was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The incident took place at around 5.40 pm. Manjunath was away at work. Kumar and Rani were sleeping on the cot. Before going out to fetch drinking water, Sathya inserted an immersion water heater coil into a plastic pot of water, police said.
Saravan, a neighbour, said, “Sathya collected the water and started chatting with a few neighbours, forgetting that she had immersed the coil in the pot of water. We noticed thick, black clouds of smoke coming out of Manjunath’s house. Soon, we spotted flames. We realised that a fire had broken out.”
Sathya and others rushed upstairs, but could not enter the house due to the flames and smoke. They informed the police and the fire department. The firemen rushed to the spot and doused the fire, after which they all could enter the house, police said.
“We started searching for the children, but only their charred bodies were found. Sathya collapsed on the floor and fell unconscious,” Saravan said.
Preliminary investigation indicated that the plastic pot exploded due to excess heat generated by the immersion coil. There was an electric short circuit due to the explosion, leading to the fire that engulfed the house, police said. A case of unnatural death was registered by the police.