BENGALURU: A family of three, including a six-year-old girl, died when a fire broke out in their house in Udayanagar in Mahadevapura early on Wednesday. The police are yet to ascertain the cause of the fire, and suspect that the trio were asphyxiated in their sleep due to the thick smoke from the fire in their tiny house.
The deceased Santosh alias Murugan (35), his wife Sofia (30) and daughter Flora (6) were residents of Cauvery street. Santosh was a cable operator.The deaths came to light around 7.50 am when their neighbours were alerted by the stench of burning material and flesh. They rushed inside the house and found the three bodies burnt beyond recognition. They immediately alerted the fire department, who rushed to the spot.
Mahadevapura police took the bodies to Bowring Hospital for autopsy. K Hemanth Kumar, Divisional Fire Officer, Mahadevapura, said, “When we reached the spot, the house was full of smoke. We don’t know the cause of the fire.”The officials also think that the fire could have started from a mosquito coil. As the windows and doors were closed, the three were asphyxiated.
A case has been registered and investigations are on to establish the cause of the fire.Santosh’s younger brothers Satish and Shashank and their respective families live on the first and second floor of the building. During the incident, both families had gone to Pune on a package tour.
“The victims lived on the ground floor of the building which is 15X40 sqft and has two rooms. The trio had slept in a room which was as tiny as 8X8 sqft. The mattress was also of synthetic material. The windows in the room were also closed,” a police official said.Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield) Abdul Ahad confirmed that the house did not have proper ventilation.
Santosh’s 19-year-old neighbour Sheen Chandran was the first to notice smoke emanating from the house.
He said, “I spoke to him last night as usual before going to sleep. In the morning, there was some horrible stench coming from the house. I got up and saw smoke coming out. I called Satish over phone and he asked me to break open the door. By then, I had informed police and the fire personnel. Along with the other neighbours we broke open the door and saw them completely burnt,” he said.