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Preliminary investigation by the district police revealed a lantern kept inside the house overturned and resulted in the fire.
Locals of Ranibagh village said they woke up to frantic screams and saw the house of Ataul Mullick (40), a daily wage earner, engulfed in flames, but stood mute and saw the fire reduced everything to ashes.
According to police sources, Ataul and his wife Sahanara Begum (35) managed to crawl out with the youngest of their seven children Sairabano (2). Their eldest son Sairul (13) also managed to save himself.
A senior district police official said the remaining five got trapped in the house as the tile-roof with a layer of straw underneath and the walls collapsed on them. By the time the fire-tenders reached the spot the house was completely destroyed.
Police and fire officials have recovered five charred bodies while the couple and their two surviving children were rushed to Uluberia sub-divisional hospital. Ataul was treated and discharged after primary treatment while his wife and two kids were referred to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital with 50 per cent burn injuries.
Ataul said he and his wife were sleeping in one part of their one-room house while their seven kids, including four sons, Sairul (13), Samirul (11), Mansukh ( 7), Saiful (3) and their three daughters Ansara (9), Sarisa (5) and Sairabano (2), were sleeping in the other part. “We have recovered five charred bodies. They were beyond recognition,” said a senior district police official.
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