A playful act by one of three children ended up getting two boys burnt alive as they were caught in a fire in a heap of dry grass at an agricultural field at Ippatoor village in Nawabpet Mandal of Mahabubnagar district on Thursday evening.
The victims — eight year-old student of Class III Vaishnav and nine-year-old student of Class IV Prashanth, along with their eight-year-old friend Shiva went to an agricultural field in the village. While playing Shiva found a matchbox, lit the sticks, and accidentally threw it on the haystack. The other two who were playing inside a tractor cage wheel close to the hay were caught in the flames. The incident occurred around 6 p.m on Thursday.
“They were in a state of panic and didn’t know how to escape, as they were sitting inside the cage wheel,” Nawabpet Sub-Inspector Ch.Srikanth said.
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The boys suffered 70% burns before they were rescued by the villagers and rushed to Government Hospital in the district headquarters, he said.
According to Mr. Srikanth, Vaishnav succumbed to his burns around 9 p.m., while Prashanth was declared dead by 11 p.m.