Bungalow fire kills couple; grandson, house help jump to safety from first floor in Chennai
The deceased have been identified as 78-year-old Natarajan, a lawyer and his wife, Thangam (73). The woman was bedridden due to health ailments, police said.
Crowd outside the bungalow; (right) the raging fire
CHENNAI: An elderly couple died after a fire broke out in their two-storey bungalow in Savithri Nagar, Valasaravakkam, while their teenaged grandson and domestic help survived by jumping off the first floor.
The deceased have been identified as 78-year-old Natarajan, a lawyer and his wife, Thangam (73). The woman was bedridden due to health ailments, police said.
According to the police, the septuagenarian couple's son Sriram (50), an auditor, lived with his family in the same bungalow too. On Sunday, Sriram, his wife Shyamala (43) and daughter Shreya left home to attend an event when the incident happened. Sriram's son Saravanan (18), a class 12 student, stayed back. Apart from the elderly couple and their grandson, domestic help Saraswathi was also at home when the fire broke out around noon.
The fire started on the ground floor and quickly spread to the other floors. Saravanan who came out of his room after sensing dense smoke, saw the house engulfed in fire and helped Saraswathi to jump off the first floor and tried to save his grandparents.
Neighbours who noticed the smoke alerted authorities who then deployed fire tenders from Ramapuram, Virugambakkam, Kilpauk and Poonamallee to the scene. It took them an hour to douse the flames. Saravanan, who could not find a way to his grandparents' room, subsequently jumped off the first floor.
After dousing the flames, rescue personnel secured the charred bodies of Natarajan and Thangam from the house. Their bodies were sent to Kilpauk Government Hospital for postmortem examination. The cause of the fire will be known after a forensic examination of the scene. The Valasaravakkam police have registered a case and are investigating further.
