SALEM: Five members of a family, including two children, were killed in a fire accident in Salem on Thursday midnight. While four of the deceased were charred to death a 40-year-old woman died due to asphyxiation.
According to Suramangalam police, K Settu alias Balan (65), a resident of Ramasamy Nagar at Narasothipatti in Salem city and his sons Anbazhagan (46) and Karthick (40) were running a sawmill. They were living in the same home as a joint family, up to 11 members were staying in the house.
On Thursday night, Karthick along with his wife Maheswari (35), sons Sarvesh (12), and Mukesh (10) had slept in a bedroom near the hall. In the second bedroom, Settu and his elder sister Mallika (70) slept. In the third bedroom Anbazhagan's wife Pushpa (40), son Jayakumar (22), and daughter Sowmiya (17) were sleeping. Anbazhagan slept in a separate room on the first floor.
At midnight, a fire broke out in the hall decorated with a fall ceiling and wooden furnishing.
The fire spread rapidly from the hall to the first bedroom while thick black smoke filled the air.
In the fire, Karthick, his wife Maheswari, and sons Sarvesh and Mukesh who were sleeping in the first bedroom were charred to death.
On hearing their screams, Anbazhagan's wife Pushpa and her children came out of the third bedroom, during which Pushpa died of suffocation.
Her children Jayakumar and Sowmiya escaped with minor burn injuries. The remaining family members came out of the home without any injuries.
On seeing the thick smoke emanating from the house, nearby residents alerted fire and rescue service and Suramangalam police. The firefighters who rushed to the spot extinguished the fire.
The Suramangalam police sent the five bodies to Salem Government Hospital for postmortem and have registered a case.
On being informed, the Salem district collector S A Raman and City police Commissioner T Senthil Kumar visited the spot and consoled the family members and inquired about the incident.