Tarun Karthick
Sri Vijaya Puram, 6 August 2025
In a devastating fire that broke out on Wednesday evening at Dairy Farm in Sri Vijaya Puram, South Andaman, five residential houses were completely gutted and a 45-year-old woman tragically lost her life, reportedly due to suffocation from smoke.
The incident occurred between 8:00 PM and 9:40 PM. According to the statement of Mohammad Rafikul Molla— a resident of one of the affected houses —as mentioned in the First Information Report (FIR), the fire is believed to have started in the house of one Kurma Rao, which was locked at the time. Rafikul, a labourer by profession, had just returned from work when his aunt, Mumtaz Bibi, alerted him to flames visible inside the locked house.
Acting swiftly, Rafikul removed gas cylinders from his own home and that of his aunt’s to prevent an explosion, and cut the main electricity line as a precautionary measure. He then raised an alarm to alert other residents in the adjacent rental homes. However, during the chaos, Mumtaz Bibi, who had initially escaped her house, re-entered for unknown reasons.
Despite efforts by the fire brigade and local residents, the blaze had intensified by the time Kurma Rao’s house was unlocked. After the fire was fully doused around 9:40 PM, police and residents entered the charred structures. Mumtaz Bibi was found lifeless inside the bathroom of her home, sitting inside a small water tank approximately three feet deep. Her body showed no burn injuries, suggesting she may have died due to smoke inhalation.
The fire completely destroyed five adjacent houses, all of which were on rent. The incident is under investigation, with police registering a case under Sections 106 and 287 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
