Youth charred to death in Balasore house fire

Balasore: In an unfortunate incident, a youth was charred to death after his house near Aradabazar in Balibil area of Balasore district caught fire in the wee hours today.

The deceased, Bhabani Sankar Jena, a resident of Keonjhar, was working in a private company in Balasore.

The incident occurred at around 3.30 am when Bhabani was fast asleep inside the house. Though the exact cause of the mishap is yet to be ascertained, it is suspected that an electric short-circuit might have triggered the fire.

Neighbours informed that they rushed out of their houses after hearing the screams of Bhabani. “When we heard his screams, we rushed to see what has happened. He was desperate to come out of the house but could not as the gates were locked. Even we could not save him. The intensity of the fire was so high that we could not even get close to the entrance of his house. All the household articles and his bike that was parked inside have been reduced to ashes,” said neighbour, Ranjan Das.

Sources claimed that the fire tenders also could not reach the spot because of the narrow lane connecting the locality.

Meanwhile, police recovered the body of the deceased and have sent it for post mortem while an investigation has been initiated into the incident, sources said.