Lit candle kept on fibre-made cooler leads to blaze, 4 kids hurt

Four children of the same family sustained burn injuries after their house caught fire in southeast Delhi’s Badarpur area on Sunday night. Two of the minor boys were discharged after treatment while their sisters are still being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). 

According to the Fire department, a call was received around 9 pm. Four children of the same family — Rakhi, 13, Deepali, 7, Ashu, 5, and Lucky, 3 — got injured in the blaze. Rakhi and Deepali have sustained nearly 30-40 per cent burn injuries. 

Prima facie, it appears that the children were inside their house and one of them had kept lit candles on a cooler made out of fibre as there was a power cut. 

The cooler caught fire and the children were trapped inside. Their father, who works as a truck driver, and their mother, who cooks food at weddings, were out for work. 

“Only their eldest sibling was awake and had prepared food for the rest of them. The three others were sleeping in the one bedroom house, which has only one exit. Rakhi lit a candle and put it on the cooler. 

Then she also went to sleep and cooler caught fire. It is an unfortunate incident and we can’t really blame anyone for this,” said their uncle Lal Singh, who also lives in the same area. He said the children woke up to see their house engulfed in smoke and failed to find the door as the cooler was placed right next to it. 

Later, some passersby spotted the fire in the house and informed the police and the Fire department, before rescuing the children. 

It took over two hours to douse the fire and five fire tenders were pressed into service.