Chennai: A 73-year-old man, who rushed back to a smoke filled room in his house after a fire broke out from the air conditioner early on Friday morning to retrieve his car key, died of suffocation. He had been warned by his kin and neighbours in Madambakkam not to go back into the house.
The victim Balasubramanian, his wife and their daughter-in-law had come out of the house after a short circuit in an air conditioner had triggered fire and smoke in a room in their house at Santhi Niketan Colony. However, he went inside again to try and retrieve his car key so that they could move the car away from any danger of it catching fire.
While he managed to come out of the house after having entered the smoke-filled room, it was not long before he fell unconscious. The paramedical team, which was rushing to the spot on an emergency call, were helping him from a car into their ambulance when they found he had already died of asphyxiation. The crisis developed around 1 am when Balasubramanian’s daughter in-law Siva Sankari sensed sparks coming out from the study.
Her husband Gopalakrishnan, who works in an IT firm, was out of station. After alerting her elderly in-laws, who were sleeping in another room, she managed to get out of the house with her child.
After all the family members assembled outside, they called the fire service.
Balasubramanian thought the car parked in the portico could be a source of danger if the fire spreads and so, despite being warned, he went back inside to fetch the car key and this resulted in his death, the police said. He complained of uneasiness as soon as he came out. The paramedical staff, who were checking his pulse after taking him into the ambulance, found he had passed away.
