Chennai techie’s attempt to burn ant nest turns fatal as her dress catches fire

A 27-year-old woman died of burn injuries after she attempted to gut an ant nest at her house located in Perumal Koil Street of Aminjikarai in Chennai. The woman, who was also wearing a polyester dress at the time of the accident, suffered 90% burns and died on Sunday. According to reports, S Sangeetha of Perumal Koil Street in Aminjikarai was working at an IT firm in Sholinganallur. She was reportedly the sole breadwinner of the family as her father Sathyamoorthy, who was working as a driver, lost his job during the lockdown.

The techie was also working from home due to the lockdown. On Saturday, Sangeetha found ants in her room and spotted an ant nest. She immediately cleaned the floor and decided to burn the ant nest with kerosene. Sangeetha, along with her mother, poured kerosene on a paper and lit the nest. The ants soon started to move away from the nest and scattered to different places. 

However, according to reports, some ants scurried towards Sangeetha and crawled on her legs. She immediately tried to shake the ants but dropped the kerosene can near the fire. The inflammable substance spilt on her dress and the fire engulfed her.

Hearing Sangeetha’s cry, Sathyamoorthy rushed to help her. However, the blaze had already engulfed her by then. Sathyamoorthy, Sangeetha’s brother and the neighbours tried to put out the fire. They dropped wet blankets on her but they were able to put out the fire only after a long struggle. Her mother, too, suffered minor burns in the incident. The duo was immediately rushed to Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital on Saturday night. However, the doctors declared her dead at 2.30 am on Sunday.

The police said Sangeetha was also wearing a polyester dress, which caught fire immediately and led to the severe burns. The police have registered a case and have sent the body for postmortem. Further investigations are going on.