Ex-serviceman dies in fire mishap

TIRUCHY: An ex-serviceman, who suffered burns in a fire that broke out in a garbage yard and spread to nearby houses on Monday, died despite treatment on Tuesday. Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi visited the victim’s family members and consoled them and distributed relief materials.

Sources said that fire broke out at the garbage yard owned by the civic body at Jabamalaipuram in Thanjavur on Monday afternoon. Owing to the heavy wind in the region at that time, the fire spread to adjacent houses and as many as six thatched roof houses were reduced to ashes. A Arokiasamy (73), an ex-serviceman, who was bed-ridden due to age-related ailments, was trapped in one of the fire-hit houses. Neighbours rushed him to the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital. However, on Tuesday afternoon, Arokiasamy succumbed to burns.