A four-year-old girl was burnt alive in the early hours of Thursday when she could not escape from a fire that gutted the hut in which she was asleep.
An electrical short-circuit gutted the hut of farmer, Pamarthi Dhanunjaya, around 1 a.m., at Boravancha Kothuru village in Krishna District, about 60 k.m. from Vijayawada. While the hut was on fire, Dhanunjaya ran out along with wife and son, and tried to put out the flames. But the couple forgot to bring out their granddaughter Modumudi Bhavani alias Pramila.
The fire spread very fast and even before they could realize that Bhavani was sleeping inside the hut, she died of burns, the Nuzvid Fire Officer K.V. Murali Kondababu said.
Fire Department officials and the Nuzvid Rural police personnel arrived at the scene, but could not do much.
