Date:27/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/27/stories/2008122759910300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

3 women die as hut goes up in flames

Special Correspondent

— Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

MISERABLE: Construction materials, including wood, were stored near the hut which caught fire killing three women on Thursday.

CHENNAI: Three aged women died when a hut they were sleeping in went up in flames at Kodungaiyur here on Thursday night.

Police said K. Kumar (44) of Eveready Colony had accommodated his mother Chandra (65), grandmother Jayalakshmi (90) and aunt Saraswathi (75), who was partially blind, in a hut near his house. His sister, Gnanammal, gave dinner to the old women on Thursday night and lit a mosquito coil. She also locked the door.

Around 10.45 p.m., a neighbour, Govindarajulu, noticed fire coming out of the hut. Before fire tenders reached the scene, the hut was gutted. The three women suffered serious burns and died on the spot. A nearby shed in which Govindarajulu had stored construction materials including wood was also destroyed.

Police suspect that the mosquito coil could have caused the fire as the lone electrical wire connecting a bulb was intact. The Kodungaiyur police are investigating. The bodies were shifted to the Stanley Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem, police added.