Berhampur: A woman was killed and her husband critically injured in a fire which broke out due to an electric short circuit in an air-conditioner in their house in Berhampur of Odisha’s Ganjam district in the wee hours of Thursday.
According to sources, the incident took place when the elderly couple, identified as Uttara Sahu and her husband Prabhakar Sahu, were sleeping in the first floor of their house in front of Ramkrushna Kalyan Mandap near the All India Radio station on Lochapada road on Wednesday.
They had had kept their air-conditioner running throughout the night due to heat wave conditions in the city. An electrical mechanic, who was repairing a fan downstairs, found thick smoke coming out of the building and alerted the neighbours who informed the Fire Brigade.
The locals with the help of Fire personnel broke open a door of the house and rescued the couple.
Both were admitted to City Hospital and then shifted to MKCG Hospital Berhampur. Later, they were taken to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack where Uttara succumbed. She had suffered 80 per cent burn injuries. The condition of Prabhakar, who is suffering from breathlessness, was also serious, according to his family sources.
The Fire personnel suspected that the fire was started from short circuit in the air-conditioner which was running for a long time.
Uttara had to be shifted from MKCG, Berhampur to SCB, Cuttack despite serious conditions as there is no burn unit in MKCG, sources said.
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