Every evening, she would sit down to worship by lighting a lamp at home. The same lamp's fire burned her alive, leading to an elderly woman's death. The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon at Rathtal in Bantara. Police said the deceased's name was Abharani Pal (65). She had one son. He was outside the house at the time of the incident. All household items were burned in the fire.
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According to local sources, Abharani's son went out of the house for some work that afternoon. The elderly woman was alone at home. As usual, she had sat down to worship by lighting a lamp at home. Meanwhile, the lamp suddenly overturned. Camphor, wicks and some clothes were kept nearby. The lamp's flame first caught the clothes on fire. Within moments, the fire spread throughout the entire house. All the items inside the house began burning fiercely. Being busy with worship, Abharani did not notice the matter at first. When her clothes caught fire, she realized it. By then, the fire had engulfed the entire house. As a result, she could not come out of the room. Later, her burned body was recovered from the room. When taken to the hospital, doctors declared her dead.
Neighbors said that seeing thick black smoke coming out of the room, they immediately rushed to Abharani's house. However, no one dared to enter the room due to the fire and smoke. Later, they tried to extinguish the fire by bringing water in buckets. The fire engine arrived quite some time after that. Even though the fire engine came close, it could not reach near the house due to the narrow alley. This caused considerable delay in starting the fire extinguishing work. Residents complained, "Due to insufficient pipes with the fire department, there was much delay in extinguishing the fire. If the fire department had come on time, perhaps the elderly woman could have been saved." However, fire department officials said the alley was quite long, so there was delay in taking the pipes.
A shadow of grief has descended over the entire area due to this incident. A neighbor said Abharani was a very calm-natured woman. They had been living here for a long time.
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An official of Howrah City Police said an investigation has begun into how the fire started. The actual cause of the fire is being examined.
A section of local residents questioned, "Most of the alleys and roads in the area are narrow. So how will fire engines reach in case of such accidents?"
