Days after a journalist, his wife and his mother asphyxiated to death after their fridge burst, a couple suffered burns after their air conditioner burst in Chennai. According to reports, Prakash Menon (55) and Bindhu (48) lived in an apartment in Shakti Nagar, Porur with their two sons.
On Tuesday, 2 July, around 12:30 am, a spark in their bedroom AC blew up the compressor and filled the room with smoke, even as their sons were sleeping in the room next to theirs.
The couple was stuck inside their bedroom as smoke had engulfed the room. Their neighbours, who heard the blast rushed to help the couple. As the neighbours were struggling to open the doors of the house, a police patrol vehicle also reached the spot and helped rescue the couple.
The police also summoned fire engines from Virugambakkam fire station and brought the situation under control.
The couple was rushed to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for treatment. While Bindhu suffered 40 percent burns on her body, Prakash’s condition was better with lesser burns. The two sons escaped unhurt as they were both in another room while the incident happened.
This incident comes days after Prasanna, a TV journalist, his wife and his mother were suffocated to death in their house near Tambaram as the fire which started in their fridge spread to flammable plastic in the house. The noxious fumes asphyxiated the family to death as they had kept their windows closed due to the AC in their room.
According to primary investigation, the fire started in the fridge due to high voltage and then spread to other parts of the house, consuming plastic materials. Their bodies were recovered from the living room of their house by the police who then alerted Prasanna’s employer, NewsJ.
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