Boy dies in fire mishap

 A Class 5 student was killed in a fire accident in his house in Kamalanagar Thursday night. The deceased is Chandan, 13, a student of St Xavier’s English School, Kamalanagar.

Chandan's family hails from Bellary and had migrated to the City a decade back. While Chandan's father Chandrashekar works as a guard with a private security firm, his mother is mentally unsound. The couple also have a daughter whom they married off recently.

Chandan and his mother were alone in the house, while Chandrashekar had been to work when the incident occurred. Police said the boy went to make tea for himself and his mother at about 7.30 pm on the kerosene stove in the kitchen.

When he struck a matchstick to light the stove, the kerosene that had spilled caught fire and the stove burst.

Soon, the boy’s face and torso were in flames. He fell to the ground and when he was trying to put out the fire, the kerosene can on the floor also caught fire. Chandan's mother watched helplessly as he was engulfed by the fire.

Hearing Chandan's screams for help, Devaraj, a neighbour, rushed into the house, poured water on Chandan to put out the fire and took him to a nearby private hospital from where he was referred to Victoria Hospital.

Later, Chandan's father Chandrashekar and his uncle Ramaiah admitted him to the burns ward of the hospital.

Hospital sources said that the boy had suffered third degree burns when he was brought there at night. He died past midnight.

Basaveshwaranagar Police have registered a case and are investigating.