Playing with match box kills six-year-old in Karnataka

MANDYA: A home-alone girl who was told to stay inside, as her parents went out for work, lost her life, after playing with a match box proved costly for her. The six-year-old girl who had suffered severe burns in the incident that occurred on June 1, succumbed after five days at KR Hospital in Mysuru.

Preethi, daughter of Cheluvaraju-Sarvamangala couple, residents of VC Colony, Pandavapura town in the district, was at home when her parents went out for work.

The couple got a call from a lodge in the town to clean the same. It was around 1.30 pm, when they left for work. Before that, they had fed lunch to their two children (the couple has a four-year-old son also).

While the toddler went to grandparents’ house in the neighbourhood later, the girl stayed indoor. To ensure that the girl does not venture out, the parents turned on the TV asking her to watch it till their return.  They also latched the main door from outside before leaving for work, said a policeman associated with investigation to TNIE.

It was around 3.15 pm when the girl’s uncle heard loud screams from the house and rushed inside, only to find the girl with raging flame. By the time, the girl’s uncle, along with others, doused the fire and rushed her to the hospital, she  had suffered burns from below neck to toe. Following the advice of doctors, she was shifted to K R Hospital in Mysuru, where she died on the night of June 5.