Mahabubnagar tragedy: Two boys burnt alive after haystack catches fire

Mahabubnagar :Tragedy befell Mahabubnagar district when two minor boys were burnt alive after haystack caught fire at Nawabpet.The boys were identified as Prashanth, 11, and Vignesh, 8. They were playing hide and seek when the incident occurred. Locals said boys got trapped in the fire and received severe burns. They were rushed to the Mahabubnagar district hospital where they succumbed to injuries.

According to police, on Thursday evening the victims were playing hide and seek near their home in Ippaturu village of Nawabpet. While playing, the boys went under the KG wheels of a tractor that was parked and pulled over hay from a nearby haystack to conceal themselves. A few minutes later, the hay caught fire. Within no time, the fire spread and they could not come out.

The boy, who was playing along with them, tried to help them, but in vain. He then alerted the villagers, who rushed to the spot, put off the fire, and pulled the boys out. But by then, they had already received severe burns. Nawabpet police registered a case and started the investigation.

Police are probing if the other boy had lit fire or the victims themselves had accidentally lit the fire. Since the area where the incident happened is used by villagers to defecation, police suspect one of them who had come to answer nature's calls could have thrown a cigarette but on the hay, not knowing about the children.