Thiruvananthapuram: The report by the Kerala Fire and Rescue Services into the tragic fire which claimed the lives of five members of a family at Varkala on March 8 states that the first spark occurred in the switchboard at the car porch of the house.
According to the report, the fire spread rapidly from the switchboard in the car porch to the hall of the house through the power cable. The presence of several inflammable items in the hall helped the fire to become intense. As a result, the false ceiling of the hall melted and collapsed. With lack of ventilation, smoke soon filled the hall.
As it was night, the family members were sleeping in various bedrooms. When the smoke crept into their rooms, the family woke up and opened the doors to the hall. As a result, the poisonous smoke gushed into their rooms from the hall, choking the family to death. Most of the victims were found near the bedroom door, points out the report as evidence of this inference.
Meanwhile, the bodies of a young mother and her infant were seen in the bathroom. According to the Fire and Rescue Services report, this happened because they tried to escape from the smoke by locking up in the bathroom, realizing that opening the door of the bedroom would be dangerous.
The report says that the fire also spread to the bikes parked in the car porch through the window near the switchboard, which was completely gutted.
Incidentally, the report says that even though the fire destroyed the hall of the house, the cots and mattresses in the bedroom did not catch fire.
Those who lost their lives in the fire were Prathapan, a 63-year-old wholesale dealer of vegetables; his wife Sherly (53); son Ahil (29); Abhirami (25), daughter-in-law who is married to another son Nihil, and Abhirami and Nihil’s infant Rayan (eight months old).
Nihil (32), who suffered severe burns, is still in hospital.
Prathapan’s eldest son Rahul who was abroad returned following the tragedy.
