Chengalpattu: Three members of a family were killed after a refrigerator exploded in their house at Chengalpattu early on Friday morning. The deceased have been identified as Girija(63), Radha(55), and Rajkumar(45). All of them were staying in Brindhavan apartments in the Kilambakkam area here when the incident happened.
As informed by the officials, Girija (63) and her relatives were sleeping on the first floor of the apartment when the refrigerator exploded due to an electric leak at around 4 am on Friday morning. The consequent heavy smoke suffocated the sleeping family. The neighbors rushed to the house after hearing the screams. On breaking the door of the house, all of them were found lying in an unconscious state. While Rajkumar, Radha, and Girija died on the spot, Bhargavi and Aradhana were unconscious but alive.
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The neighbors called the police and the fire department, after which all the victims were rushed to the hospital for treatment. The dead bodies were meanwhile sent for post-mortem. Both the survivors Bhargavi and Aradhana are currently admitted to the Chrompet hospital for treatment. A preliminary probe revealed that the gas leak from the refrigerator explosion filled the room as the windows and doors were locked.
Meanwhile, Chengalpattu district collector Rahul Nath visited the site of the accident and inspected it this morning. He clarified that the preliminary probe does not confirm any short-circuit. However, they will carry out an exhaustive probe into the incident. Shedding more light on the accident, Nath said, "Girija and Rajkumar had arrived here from Dubai for a family event. Since the house has been locked for more than a year, the refrigerator was not working. They turned it on yesterday. At around 5 am, it burst due to an electricity leak."
"The gases and smoke from the refrigerator suffocated them, leading to their death. A Superintending Engineer had come now to assess the circumstances leading to the accident and to verify whether there was any 'short-circuit' in the power supply," added Nath, further informing that the survivors -- Rajkumar's wife Bargavi and daughter Aradya -- were in a different room and therefore survived.
