Elderly woman dies as fire guts home in Padri tea garden

DARJEELING,: Sixty-seven-year-old Rukmani Rai died on the spot after a fire broke out in her house at Padri Tea Garden, about 2 km from Darjeeling.

The incident occurred around 2 am today while she and her five-member family were asleep.

Her husband, Mahabir Rai, said, “It was almost two in the morning when I woke up after hearing my wife cough badly due to the smoke. I noticed that the fire had already spread widely in the next room. Struggling to breathe, I covered my mouth with my hand and tried to open the window but couldn’t. I then broke the windowpane with my head, opened the latch and got out. By then, the fire had spread even more.”

“I feel terrible that I could not save my wife. Now I feel I should have stayed inside with her and died,” said Mahabir, an ex-army man.

The other members of the family - his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter -were in another room where the fire had not yet reached, and they managed to escape safely.

Villagers gathered after hearing the alarm, but they were unable to save the wooden house, which had been built in the mid-1980s. Residents said they managed to douse the flames after nearly two hours using water stored in nearby homes.

“The incident is very unfortunate as a life has been lost. However, if we had not been able to control the fire, it could have spread to other nearby houses. We had called the fire brigade, and although they arrived, they could not reach the spot due to the narrow roads,” said neighbour Dhiren Lama.

“I have nothing left now. I could not even save important documents; everything was taken by the fire. I don’t even have a place to conduct my wife’s last rites,” said Mahabir, who is unsure where he will stay next.

Panchayat members arrived in the morning and assured support to the family.