SC locality in Andhra village gutted down by fire, infant burnt alive

An infant was burnt alive in a fire that engulfed her house in a Scheduled Caste (SC) locality in Andhra Pradesh's Palnadu district. The tragic incident occurred in Pedapalem village of Achampet mandal on Wednesday, June 14. Fire personnel said that one-year-old Pallavi was sleeping in her cradle when fire from a nearby field spread to the house. The fire soon caused a gas cylinder to burst and spread to other houses in the locality. Officials told TNM that two other family members sustained burn injuries in the fire. 

According to the preliminary observations of the fire personnel, waste from crop fields was set on fire by farmers. The winds caused the fire to spread to the houses in the nearby SC locality. Initially, the house in which the infant was sleeping was consumed in flames, from where it spread to other houses. “We were alerted about the accident around 3.45 pm on Wednesday. By the time we reached the village, at least 15 houses had caught fire. We brought the situation under control,” a Fire Department official told TNM.

However, the SC residents alleged that the fire had started at least three hours before the arrival of fire personnel. Speaking to the media, the grandmother of the deceased infant said, “The baby was sleeping in the cradle when we noticed the fire. I tried to go inside but the fire suddenly flared up and I ran from there.” Visuals that emerged from the scene show that the houses were reduced to ash. 

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