Couple charred to death in Kannur as car catches fire while taking wife for delivery

Kannur: In a horrifying incident, two passengers, including a pregnant woman died when a moving car caught fire in Kannur. Kuttiattoor native Prajith (32) and his wife Reesha (26) are the deceased. The incident happened near Kannur district hospital on Thursday morning, when the family was taking Reesha to hospital as she was going through labour pain. According to reports, there were six passengers in the car when it caught fire.

Police said that the co-passengers of the victims have been shifted to a hospital. They are said to be out of danger. The deceased passengers were sitting in the front seats of the car. The locals informed the fire force after spotting flames rising from the right side of the car. The passengers sitting in the rear seats could open the door and escape from the car.

‘They are not injured. They are in the hospital and they are getting checked’, Kannur city police Commissioner Ajit Kumar told reporters after visiting the accident site. He said it appears that the victims got trapped inside the burning car as they could not open its front door. The incident occurred when the victims aged 35 and 26 and others, hailing from Kuttyattoor in the district, were going to the district hospital for a check-up, eye witnesses said.

According to locals, the woman who died was pregnant and they tried to rescue the victim-couple by opening the front door of the car but failed. TV footage showed the locals present at the spot running towards the burning car to rescue the hapless couple who got stuck inside it. Some of them were seen trying to open the door to rescue the man and the woman. ‘We were totally helpless at that time as the front side of the car was immediately engulfed in fire. We could not do much to save them as we feared that the oil tank of the car will explode in any time’, an eyewitness told the media.

Police said the reasons for the fire could be ascertained only after verification by technical experts. ‘The car will be properly checked with the help of all the scientific as well as automobile experts. Let us investigate a little more and then we will be able to get more information’, police said.