PARADIP: A 28-year-old woman was burnt to death after a heap of straw near her house caught fire at Pipal village under Paradip Lock police limits in Jagatsinghpur district on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Rina Dalai. Sources said Rina was bringing straw from the heap to feed her family’s cattle when the haystack reportedly caught fire. The flames engulfed her and spread to the house.
Hearing her screams, neighbours reached the spot and rescued the woman from the burning haystack in a critical condition. They also managed to stop the fire from spreading further. However, Rina succumbed to her burn injuries.
Sources said the kitchen of the woman’s house was damaged in the fire. While Rina’s husband works in Paradip, her bed-ridden paralysed father-in-law and one-year-old infant were inside the house when the incident took place.
Fire officer of Kujang Kartik Kumar Biswal said before the arrival of the fire brigade, locals had already rescued the woman. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
On the other hand, Rina’s family members and neighbours alleged that some miscreants might have set the haystack afire, leading to the mishap.
Later in the day, police along with a forensic team reached the mishap site and launched an investigation to determine the cause of the fire and Rina’s death. The woman’s body was sent to Kujang hospital for postmortem.