E-Paper
Toddler charred to death in Lucknow as mates light up straw in play
A 3-year-old child was burned to death while playing on a straw scaffolding in a village in India. The child's father often slept on the scaffolding to guard crops.
A group of children cheerfully playing in the open field on a bright sunny Thursday afternoon suddenly turned melancholic when one of them – only three – was charred to death.
The incident happened in Semrapeetpur village of Gosainganj when the toddler was playing on top of a scaffolding made with straw, which caught fire after the rest of the group set a bunch of straw alight.
“Kunal, 3, died immediately,” said Dinesh Chandra Mishra, SHO, Gosaiganj. “The accident took place while children were playing and they set the fire to the straw under the scaffolding, in play,” the SHO added.
A police team reached the spot and sent the body for a post-mortem examination.
“The children are scared after the incident and are not in a position to tell anything, due to which, the police also did not interrogate,” said police.
Kunal, the son of a labourer, Sukhmilal, had gone to play in the field along with his elder brother Anmol, 5 and sister Khushi, 4, and other group of children on the scaffolding.
Kunal climbed on the roof of the scaffolding built in the farm while his brothers and sisters started playing with the village children below. The other group of children did not know about his presence on the top and they lit the straw below. The fire spread quickly to the top, burning Kunal.
Kunal got trapped in the flames and could not get down. The children ran away in fear. On the other hand, people working in the fields saw the scaffolding burning and ran and tried to extinguish the fire. But by then the scaffolding had burnt to ashes, killing Kunal.
According to the family, the deceased’s father often sleeps at the scaffolding at night, made to scare stray cows, to guard the crops.
