3 of family charred to death in farm yard fire
ALL THE THREE PERSONS WERE SLEEPING INSIDE A MAKESHIFT STRAW HUT ON THEIR FARM YARD, WHEN FIRE BROKE OUT
DHANBAD: Three members of a family were charred to death in farm yard fire at Salaydih village in Giridih’s Birni block, around 45km away from district headquarters, late on Sunday night, police said.
Birni police station officer in-charge Sharmanand Singh said the incident took place around 11pm. All three members were sleeping inside a makeshift straw hut on their farm yard, when the fire broke out.
Before other family members and neighbours came to rescue them, they had already died.
The deceased were identified as farmer Sitaram Yadav’s mother Mudrika Devi(55), his sister Gudia Kumari (14) and his niece Jhulia Kumari, said Singh.
The police officer, who reached on the spot, said the exact reason of fire was yet to be ascertained.
“Prima facie, it seems that the deceased might have lit a bonfire inside the hut and a spark ignited the dry straw,” he said.
One farmer, Sitaram, and his neighbours spotted the high fire flame and smoke billowing out from the farm yard. They rushed to rescue them but to no avail.
“After dinner, the trio went to sleep in the hut around 8pm. They had been sleeping inside the hut for the last three months to protect our cattle. But, we have no clue as to how the fire broke out,” said Sitaram.
Police faced massive protest from family members in completing official formalities, as they refused to handover the bodies. ‘
The family of the deceased argued that since the trio was dead, there was no need of autopsy.
However, they agreed after the Birni police station officer in-charge convinced them that they would get government compensation only after postmortem report.
Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, who fainted Sunday evening during an election rally in Vadodara, has tested positive for Covid-19 with mild symptoms, an official health bulletin said.
Rupani, 64, fainted at a public meeting in Vadodara’s Nizampura area on Sunday evening while delivering a speech. News videos showed that he collapsed while holding the microphone and security personnel immediately prevented him from falling.
The chief minister was immediately rushed to the staterun UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre on the New Civil Hospital campus.
In a health bulletin on Monday, Dr RK Patel, Director of the Institute, stated, “The ECG, 2D echo and blood tests of the chief minister were normal last night [Sunday].”
An RT-PCR test was conducted and its report Monday morning showed he tested positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Dr Patel said.
He clarified in the health bulletin that Rupani has “mild symptoms and his condition is stable.”
Dr Patel added, “His oxygen saturation, HRCT Thorax, IL-6 and D-Dimer are all normal.”