Darjeeling: 84-yr-old dies in house fire

Darjeeling: An 84-year-old ex-serviceman died in a house fire in Darjeeling on Wednesday. The fire broke out at Mangalpuri in Darjeeling town at around 12:30am.

“At around 12:30 am, I heard cracking sounds. I thought people were bursting crackers as it was Christmas. At around 1 am, I heard a very loud bang. When we rushed out, we saw a huge fire blazing at Indra Prasad Sharma’s house,” stated Babli Begum, the victim’s neighbour.

Sharma used to live alone in the house with his wife having passed away two years ago. “The neighbours used to provide food for him and used to look after him. He was very weak,” added Begum.

Locals managed to control the blaze before the fire engine arrived. “Part of his charred body was recovered by the fire brigade and sent for post mortem,” said Krishna Sarki, another neighbour. Though the exact cause of the fire is not known, neighbours feel that it could have caught on from an electric heater.