Three Indian teenage siblings were among four persons killed in a fire at a house in the US state of Tennessee, just two days before Christmas, according to media reports.
The fire killed a woman and three Indian teens from Telangana who were staying with her family through the holidays in a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee.
“Kari Coudriet—of Collierville, Tennessee—as well as Sharron (17), Joy (15) and Aaron (14)—teen siblings of the Naik family from India—all died in the fire,” a paper reported, citing a statement issued by the Collierville Bible Church.
“A fire started around 11 pm at the Coudriet home (on December 23). The family was hosting, housing and celebrating Christmas with three teenagers attending an academy here in the states. The Naik family are missionaries in India that our church supports,” the church said.
Srinivas Naik and his wife, Sujatha, could not be contacted. They flew to the US immediately after coming to know about the incident. Cole and Danny survived after jumping from a second storey window.
A neighbour rushed to the scene and tried to go up to the second storey with a ladder to rescue those trapped in the two-storey house after Danny pleaded for help. “It was so hot, and smoke was billowing,” news agency Associated Press quoted Collierville fire department chief Mark King as saying.
Local media reported that the investigators were still probing how the house caught fire.
In Hyderabad, Telangana Congress chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy asked the state government to make arrangements for bringing the bodies of the three teenagers to India.