Bengaluru: Woman dies after fire breaks out at home, three family members escape

Bengaluru, Mar 3 (PTI) A 55-year-old woman has died in a fire that broke out at her residence here, while three other family members managed to escape safely, police said on Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as Savitha. Her husband Ramesh Babu, a contractor, their son Vishruth and Babu's mother Channamma escaped unhurt, they said.

The incident occurred between 9.30 pm and 10 pm on March 2 in a three-storey building owned by the family in Rajajinagar, police said.

According to the complaint filed by Babu, the ground and first floors of the building had been rented out, while the family resided in a duplex portion on the third floor.

On the night of the incident, Babu and his mother were watching television on the lower level of the duplex, while Vishruth was in one of the two rooms on the upper level. He noticed a smell emanating from the opposite room and, upon checking, found that a fire had broken out there.

"Vishruth alerted his father and grandmother and sent them outside the house. Babu's wife was on the upper level at that time. Before she could come downstairs, the fire intensified rapidly, and she got trapped upstairs. Vishruth managed to come out safely," a senior police officer said.

Fire and emergency services personnel rushed to the spot and extinguished the blaze. Savitha was later brought downstairs in an unconscious state and shifted to Manipal Hospital in Malleswaram, where doctors declared her brought dead, he said.

Preliminary findings suggest that she may have died due to suffocation caused by the fire, he added.

Although a short-circuit is suspected to be the reason behind the fire. However, the exact cause of the fire is still being ascertained, police said.

A case has been registered, and further investigation is underway, they added. PTI AMP ADB