Three children were charred to death in a fire which broke out at their residence in Kalyanpur Sultan village under Balrampur police station of Katihar district during the wee hours today.
The deceased children identified as Pandav Kumar Mandal (4), Pawan Kumar Mandal (5) and Lakhichand Mandal (12) were sleeping in their house, while their elders had gone to attend a marriage ceremony, police said.
"It seems the fire broke out from a kerosene lamp in the house of Birendra Mandal where these children were sleeping and soon spread to two other neighbouring houses. People rushed to help but could not save the children. The fire was controlled with the help of fire brigade later on," said a police official.
Meanwhile Katihar District Magistrate Prakash Kumar said that the administration is trying to provide financial help to the grieving family for the last rites.
The bodies have been sent to Katihar Sadar Hospital for postmortem.
