A tragic incident occurred on Friday in Coimbatore when a 53-year-old woman, M. Padmavathy, died from burns after fuel meant for operating a generator spilled and ignited a fire. Two of her relatives and a youth also suffered burns in the incident.
Padmavathy, a Tamil teacher at a school in Ram Nagar, lived in KRG Nagar, Ganapathy. The tragedy unfolded after her 83-year-old mother-in-law, B. Ramalakshmi, passed away on Thursday evening, and the family was mourning her death. To preserve the body, it was placed in a mobile freezer box inside the house. Due to a power outage, a generator was hired to power the freezer.
According to the police, when 20-year-old S. Sriram from Ganapathy poured diesel into the generator, the fuel spilled onto a lamp near the freezer. The fire quickly spread, and when the fuel container caught fire, Sriram dropped it, causing the flames to spread further inside the house.
Padmavathy, her sister-in-law R. Banumathi (50), brother-in-law B. Rajeswaran (55), and Sriram all suffered burns. Fire and rescue services were alerted and rushed to the scene to put out the fire. The victims were taken to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, where Padmavathy was declared dead on arrival.
The police reported that Rajeswaran and Banumathi suffered severe burns, with over 60% of their bodies affected, while Sriram's condition was stable. The Saravanampatti police have launched an investigation into the incident.