Drunk man charred to death in fire mishap

A 42-year-old man was charred to death as fire engulfed his house near Sultan Park, Mandi Mohalla, in the city in the early hours of Saturday.

The deceased was identified as Anwar Pasha. According to Fire and Emergency Services personnel, the fire broke out at the house at 3.35 am after a burning candle fell off, and soon spread to adjoining houses.

According to sources, the house had no electricity connection and the victim depended on candle light during the night. On Friday night too, he had lit a candle, but, did not blow it off while going to sleep.

Anwar was a drunkard and the power was disconnected at the house a year ago as Anwar had not paid the bills. On Friday night, he was in an inebriated condition, a local resident said.

The victim tried to escape from the fire, but failed. The body of Anwar was lying near the exit door. An officer said that it looks that he might have tried to escape, but, was caught in the flames.

Anwar had three dogs and they used to live inside the house. Anwar never used to close the door before going to sleep and thus the dogs keep moving in and around the house all night. The fire personnel suspected that fire broke out when a candle fell down accidentally or by the movement of the dogs.

District Fire Officer Gururaj said, “The fire broke out within no time as old furniture and the wax caught fire. The victim could not escape due to heavy fire.” According to the officials, the house was filled with old furniture and wooden art works.

Three two-wheelers, which were parked near the house and furniture have been gutted. The authorities have estimated the loss of property to be around Rs 1 lakh.