KHAMMAM: In a tragic incident, a Class IV girl, Barapati Spandana, suffocated after the furniture in her hostel room caught fire following an electric short circuit here on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.
Four more students, who sustained injuries in the incident, are being treated at the district headquarters hospital in Khammam.
About midnight, when all 16 students in the room were sleeping on bunk beds, a tube light suddenly burst, sending its shards across the room, some of which hit the ceiling fan and fell on the beds. Soon, the beds caught fire, filling the room with thick plumes of smoke. Spandana, who was sleeping near a window on the top of a bunk bed, inhaled a lungful of smoke, which made her breathless.
When the tube light went off with a sound, the watchwoman, Lakshmi, raised an alarm, which brought the local people rushing. They ran inside the room and bought out 15 children, not knowing they had left Spandana behind.
The students who came out safe, to their dismay, noticed that Spandana was still inside. The locals then went in the room again, only to find Spandana lying dead on her bed.
The students were unhappy with the hostel administration for herding so many of them into a small room. “It is very congested and there is not enough space to move around,” one of the rescued girls said. As many as 37 girls from Classes IV to IX live in the social welfare hostel.
Spandana hailed from Kalvoddu in the town. Her father, Barapati Sanjeev, is a lorry driver. Collector RV Karnan announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to Spandana’s family. The warden of the hostel, G Vinoda, and watchwoman, Lakshmi, have been suspended in connection with the incident.
The building in which the fire broke out was in a dilapidated state and the electrical wiring had not been checked in a long time. It is said that though `3 lakh had been sanctioned for electrical-wiring repairs, the authorities had not yet got around to the work.
Police Commissioner Tafseer Iqbal visited the hostel and inquired about how short-circuit took place. He asked Assistant Commissioner of Police Venkata Rao to submit a report on the incident at the earliest.
Meanwhile, deputy director of the Social Welfare department K Satynarayana ordered an inquiry into the fire.
Speaking to Express, Collector RV Karnan said that a preliminary inquiry indicated that it was an accident, but an in-depth inquiry would be conducted by officials. “If it is found that there was anything fishy, we will probe further, and stringent action will be taken against those guilty,” he said. Meanwhile, PDSU, SFI and DYFI took out a rally in the town and staged a dharna demanding action against officials responsible for the incident.