Karimnagar: 90-year-old woman smoking cigar dies of burn injuries after bedsheet catches fire

Boddu Lachamma (90), who dozed while smoking a cigar lying on her bed, died of burn injuries she suffered after the cigar fell on the bedsheet and set it ablaze.

Karimnagar: A 90-year-old woman, who dozed while smoking a cigar lying on her bed, died of burn injuries she suffered after the cigar fell on the bedsheet and set it ablaze.

The woman, Boddu Lachamma, a resident of Srinivasnagar of Manakondur mandal, was staying with her daughter-in-law Yellavva. Lachamma, who recently fractured one of her legs, was confined to the bed most of the time, they said. On Sunday afternoon, Yellavva had gone outside, while Lachamma was on her bed, smoking a cigar, a habit she had for the last several years. However, the elderly woman dozed off after a while, with the cigar apparently slipping from her fingers on to the bedsheet, which caught fire. The intensity of the flames was high, the villagers said, since the bed had a plastic base.

---

Lachamma was found with severe burn injuries when Yellavva returned home in the evening. The daughter-in-law, with the help of their neighbours, shifted her to the Karimnagar district headquarters hospital in a 108 ambulance. As her condition deteriorated, doctors advised the family members to shift her to the Warangal MGM hospital. However, she breathed her last before they could shift her.

Lachamma’s husband died 17 years ago. She had a son, Boddu Chandraiah, and two daughters Alwala Lachavva and Thunga Kanukavva. Chandraiah went missing a few years ago.