CHENNAI : A 46-year-old man was burnt to death when his thatched hut caught fire in the wee hours of Saturday. Sources said the deceased, Anthony Raj of Uthandi near ECR, stayed in a proper concrete house. However, he used to spend the nights in a thatched hut which was there on his house’s terrace. Raj was a painter by profession.
Kanathur police said after having dinner with his wife Baby (38) and their two daughters Meena (13) and Joana (10) inside the house, Raj went to the hut and fell asleep on Friday. “Sometime after midnight, a fire broke out in the hut. Hearing Raj scream, the neighbours raised an alarm. His family too came to the spot. Patrol police alerted the fire and rescue personnel, and it took around an hour for firefighters from Siruseri fire station to douse the flames,” they said.
Anthony died on the spot and his body was sent for postmortem. A fire services officer said, “We suspect that the fire could have started due to a short circuit. It spread quickly since it was a thatched hut.”