Elderly Couple Had Close Shave As AC Catches Fire At Night

Pathanamthitta (Keralam) : Using air conditioning to beat rising temperatures in Keralam had become dangerous for an elderly couple who narrowly escaped their lives the previous night after a short circuit in the machine sparked a fire that completely destroyed their bedroom, fire officials said on Saturday. An official from Pathanamthitta fire brigade said that the couple had a short circuit in the air conditioner around 9 pm at night and it caught fire.

The official said that the couple, who lived alone in their house in Kozhencherry, immediately went out and called the fire brigade, and their neighbors came to help and took out the gas cylinders from the back door.

He said firefighters extinguished the fire and prevented it from spreading to the rest of the house or to adjacent homes that were too close together.

The couple said that the gold ornaments and some documents in the room were not damaged in the fire, but the wooden furniture was completely burned.

They said that the air conditioner has not been maintained for the last two years.

“We turn the air conditioner on for 2-3 hours at night and then turn it off,” the man told a television channel.