2 kids, grandmom charred to death as fire, cylinder blast guts house

Hyderabad: A 50-year-old woman and her two grandchildren were burnt alive after a fire engulfed their one-room house at Kalalwada Colony in Miryalaguda town of Nalgonda district shortly after midnight on Friday. Preliminary investigations by police point to a suspected short-circuit followed by a cylinder explosion.By the time fire department personnel brought the blaze under control and entered the house, they found the charred bodies of Chandrakala, her grandson Lakshman (16) and granddaughter Pranitha (14). While Lakshman had dropped out of school, Pranitha was studying in class IX.According to eyewitnesses, the fire broke out at around 12 am. Within minutes, flames spread through the asbestos-roofed house. Locals initially tried to douse the fire with water and alerted the police, who in turn informed the fire services department. Amid the rescue efforts, a gas cylinder inside the house exploded, triggering panic. The force of the explosion shattered the asbestos sheets and caused portions of the walls to collapse.Chandrakala and her grandchildren had gone to sleep after dinner and police suspect they were enveloped by thick smoke before they could escape."The bodies of Chandrakala and Pranitha were recovered close to the door, which suggests that they made an attempt to come out,'' deputy superintendent of police Rajasekhar Raju said.Fire department officials later entered the house after bringing the blaze under control and found everything gutted. Chandrakala's daughter, who works in Pune, rushed to Hyderabad after learning about the deaths of her mother and children."It was only a week ago that she had gone to Pune to take up a job. The grandchildren were staying in the residence of Chandrakala. Last month, Chandrakala's husband had died due to ill-health," Miryalaguda inspector M Nagabushan Rao said.