Odisha villagers bid adieu to 3 fire victims at mass funeral

An occasional wail pierced through the stunned silence of Sunday night as mortal

remains of three victims of a fire accident were consigned to flames in a mass cremation in Khairachhata village in Odisha's

Ganjam district. Three children, all below 10 years of age, were

charred to death when a heap of straw in an under-construction building caught fire while they were playing near it on Sunday

morning. Another six-year-old child, who was admitted to a

hospital with severe burns he had sustained in the incident, succumbed to his injuries and was later cremated separately in

the village. The biers were taken out of the homes of the victims

in a procession as relatives cried inconsolably, while some fought back tears. A sullen crowd joined the procession to the

village cremation ground. As rituals were performed and pyres lit, an occasional

wail of despair would shoot through the silence broken only by the crackling of the burning wood.

"My son was playing with his friends. He did not return home," Pratima, mother of six-year-old Sairam Jani

said. Sairam's father works as a labourer in Goa.

"I do not know how to explain to Sairam's father upon his return," said Pratima while breaking down.

Parents of another victim, seven-year-old Iteeshri Jena, work in Gujarat's Surat and she used to live in her

uncle Ratnakar's house. Ratnakar's son Alok Jena later succumbed to his

injuries at the SCB Medical College in Cuttack. "We knew the children were playing but are still

unaware of what caused the fire," he said. Another deceased, Deepak Gouda, was also of the same

locality. Though police is yet to ascertain the cause of the

fire, it suspects that the children might have lit a lamp in the under-construction building while playing.

Expressing sorrow, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each for the family of the

deceased.