TUMAKURU: In a freak fire mishap, a girl holding up a candle was injured while petrol was being poured into the fuel tank of a two-wheeler. She succumbed to the burns on Sunday.
The deceased Soundarya (16) was studying in Class 10 at Mahatma Gandhi PU College in Kunigal taluk, of Kattigehalli village near Yediyuru.
On Friday night, Soundarya’s brother was pouring petrol into the fuel tank of a two-wheeler. As there was a power cut, she went close to him with a burning candle to help him see better. The candle caught fire and Soundarya sustained over 30 per cent burns and was rushed to Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru, where died on Sunday.
“She held both the candle and fuel can, and when power returned, she dropped them in shock, resulting in the accident,” police sources said. The fire also engulfed the grocery shop which her father Laxmana runs in the village, and gutted several items.
The shop had a stock of fuel and police are investigating whether he was selling fuel illegally to customers, sources said. Amrithuru police registered a case of unnatural death and have taken up an investigation.