Three Maram kids charred to death
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, November 16 2009: In a tragic fire mishap, three siblings of a family have been charred to death at Maram Centre, Senapati district last night.

It is suspected that the fatal fire might have originated from an unattended naked lamp (candle) before it caught an LPG cylinder.

After it caught the LPG cylinder, it became a devastating inferno.

The fire broke out at about 8.15 pm yesterday, said a police source.

The three children killed by the fire have been identified as nine year old Cairla Christi, her younger brother Hingkung Justine (5) and younger sister Nikting Jeniffer (4) .

The ravaged remains of the devastating fire that killed three kids at Maram in Senapati district

Ka-Nga, the shattered mother could save her two children including the youngest one even though she could not do anything to save her other children.

She also sustained injuries.

She was treated at the unit hospital of 22 AR.

Adding to her helplessness, Ka-Nga husband Kaba Maram was away in Nagaland at his IRB post at the time of the incident.

Originally, Kaba's family hailed from Maram Khullen but they were staying at Maram Centre in rented rooms.

In addition to the lives of the children, the inferno also consumed the entire house which had eight rooms and three grocery shops.

The grocery shops incinerated by the fire belonged to Sunil Singh of Maram Centre s/o Tamphasana, Champa Devi w/o Sunil and Roman Pandey.

It is estimated that properties worth around Rs 30 lakhs have been destroyed by the fire.

Mao Police have launched an investigation into the incident after registering a case.

According to information culled from spot, fire tenders arrived there from Senapati district Hqs at 11.30 pm even as they were informed about the fire in time.

The villagers decried that the three children lost their lives because of late arrival of fire tenders.

The fire was made more devastating as fire tenders could not arrive on time due to the extremely bad condition of NH 39, lamented a social activist of Maram.

The Senapati District Students' Association and the Maram Students' Union observed that it took more than a hour for the fire tenders to reach the spot because of the extremly band condition of NH 39 although the distance between Senapati Bazar and Maram is only 35 minutes' journey.

The people of Maram, Assam Rifles, BRTF and students of Don Bosco Maram helped in controlling the fire.