Malappuram: For Sajeev and Reshma, a small patch of land behind their temporary living space is now the final resting place of their 5-month-old daughter Sreebhadra. She died on Wednesday after a wall-mounted fan above her bed overheated, melted and fell on her. The child was sleeping at a makeshift home on a cow farm at Jyothigiri Estate near Edavanna in Malappuram.

“She meant the world to us. It has been only five days since my wife started coming to work with me at the cow farm after putting our little girl to sleep at home. I kept returning from the farm, just 200 metres away, to check on her. Yet, I still cannot understand how, within moments, my little girl died,” Sajeev's voice broke as he recalled the moments.

She was rushed to Government Medical College Hospital, Manjeri, immediately after the incident but succumbed to extensive burn injuries.

With no immediate relatives or a house of their own in their native places, Sajeev, a native of Kaladi, and his wife Reshma, from Kollam, had no place to take their daughter's body. They approached farm owner Punith, who allowed them to bury Sreebhadra in the backyard of the makeshift house where she had spent her short life.

“I want her to remain beside us. We don't want to take her away to another place. We will not leave this land anymore,” Sajeev said.

‘She was sleeping peacefully’
The tragedy occurred around 4 pm. Earlier that afternoon, Sajeev had brought their five-year-old son Shivad home from the anganwadi. Sreebhadra was sleeping peacefully on the bed. When Shivad began making noise, Sajeev cautioned him not to disturb his little sister.

After making sure that the baby was sleeping quietly, he took his son to the farm, where he and Reshma had to milk the cows.

“She sleeps peacefully only when the fans are on. So we had both a pedestal fan and a wall-mounted fan running so that she wouldn't feel the heat,” Sajeev said.

Although he was working only about 200 metres away, he remained alert for the sound of his baby waking up or crying.

“I normally hear her if she wakes up and cries. After some time, I went back home and saw that she was still sleeping. I returned to the farm and continued working,” he said.

He had just finished milking the cows and was placing a vessel of milk on his motorcycle when he noticed smoke coming from the direction of their home.

“I ran towards the house. At first, I thought there might have been a gas leak. But when I opened the door, I saw a shocking sight. The wall-mounted fan had almost completely melted and fallen on the bed. Smoke was coming from the bed and the bed sheet around her,” he recalled.

He rushed to the baby, picked her up and ran outside.

“Just minutes earlier, I had seen her sleeping peacefully, with a smile on her face. I could not believe what had happened,” he said.

‘She was everyone's favourite’
Sajeev said both fans had been running continuously because of the heat inside the makeshift house.

“The wall-mounted fan was installed above the bed. It was completely burnt out, and its plastic portions had melted and fallen onto the bed. That may have caused the fire,” he said.

According to farm owner Punith, the couple came to Edavanna with their son about a year ago to work at the farm. Sreebhadra was born there and had become a favourite among the farm workers.

“She was everyone's favourite. Many times, Reshma would bring her to the farm and place her in a small cloth cradle while she worked. We would all spend time with her and play with her,” Punith said.

He believes the baby may have cried after the fan fell, but nobody heard her.

“There was a loud noise from a tree-cutting machine being operated at the time. That could be why nobody heard the baby's cries,” Punith said.

He said the fire may not have started immediately.

“We think the plastic portions of the fan melted slowly and the drops fell on the bed. It may have taken some time for the fan to melt completely. The electricity was cut off only afterwards. The baby might have cried during that time, but unfortunately, because of the noise of the tree-cutting machine, nobody heard her,” he said.